Karnataka - The Gateway to the South for the BJP??

Well, the Karnataka elections have provided an interesting result.....the BJP getting 110 of the 224 assembly seats......although they have fallen just short of an absolute majority of 113, the BJP would surely go on on to form its first own government south of the Vindhyas. Thats a big achievement for a party that had long considered itself a nationalistic party but was confined primarily to the Hindi heartland of MP, UP, Rajasthan and Delhi. Gujarat being the only non - hindi speaking state of significant proportions in its tally.
Whats interesting about this result though is the fact that BJP thinks its their time in the South now. I would beg to differ a bit. There are primarily two reasons for this - One, the BJP won in Karnataka this time as quite a lot of sympathy votes from the JDS went to the BJP. People there have criticized the JDS for back stabbing the BJP and imposing the elections on them. If we look at the tally closer, the Congress has 80 which is similar to what it got last time, while the JDS has gone down from 50+ to 28. Even during the last elections the BJP was the single largest party, but cudnt form the government due to the coalition politics of the INC and JDS. Hence I am not too sure it was an election won on the basis of the popularity of the party.
The second and a more important reason is the fact the Karnataka is the only state in the southern region, where the local parties are not too many nor are they popular. Kerala for example is always divided between the Congress and the Communists, AP between Congress and the Telugu Desam while Tamil Nadu is always a game between the 2 Dravidian parties, the DMK and the AIADMK. Added to this is the fact that the RSS and its influence have been maximum in Karnataka compared to the other states in the south historically due to the proximity of Northern Karnataka to Maharashtra.
Lets see how this works out. Kudos must be given where its due, and with Karnataka in ite kitty the BJP must be sure of performing well in the next General Elections. But before reaching Delhi, they have an important stop at Madhya Pradesh.

PS : Opinions are my own, comments are invited.

Cheers

Wat a thriller

The IPL seems to provide us with some fantatsic finishes.....Kolkata it was yesterday and 2day it was the turn of the royals from Rajasthan....what a match and we here in Delhi are celebrating....y wont we????

The last over was a mess wasnt it? Nehra or Fernando...nehra or fernando....u cant depend on the unpredictable nehra and what does Sachin do? Toss the ball to Fernando....the first 2 balls are ok....then comes the big hit....off the 3rd ball.....and the match turns completely on its head......some poor thinking and lack of common sense from Fernando, gives the RRs a life of the last ball and to cap it off u had the mis-field to throw away a match that should have been won... RR won from 5/77 ........ now the wait transfers from Delhi to Mumbai, as they see if the Deccan Chargers can beat the once formidable, but now erratic Chennai....

Meanwhile as I write this, there another match going on half way across the globe....the West Indies are tottering at 8/172 chasing 287 on the final day of the 1st test at Sabina Park, Kingstaon. Aussies shud win this and add another one to their tally of test wins!!!

Cheers!!!