Controversial statements of Reddy, Sommanna cost party bypoll loss

Bengaluru: BJP leaders alleged that the statements given by two of the BJP party member cost them heavily in the bypolls held on November 3 and utmost care would be taken to avoid such mistakes in the forthcoming elections.

BJP sources on Thursday, November 15  told that BJP would have won in Jamakandhi and Ballari constituency if two of its leaders had not given any controversial statement just few days ahead of the elections. Former minister Janardhan Reddy and V Sommanna hurt the feelings of the people as a result of which BJP lost the bypolls.

Janardhan Reddy’s statement about the death of former CM Siddaramaiah’s son and V Sommanna’s statement that Sriramulu will be the next Chief Minister resulted in the division of votes of people belonging to Kuruba and Lingayat community informed sources.