Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, who jumped ship from the BJP right before the state polls after being denied a ticket, and predicted a huge victory for himself, today told news agency ANI that "money power and pressure tactics" led to his defeat from the Hubli-Dharwad Central assembly constituency. A Lingayat heavyweight, Mr Shettar lost to the BJP's Mahesh Tenginakai by over 34,000 votes but claimed his quitting the BJP and raising the pitch on the Lingayats helped the Congress in 20 to 25 seats.
He accused his rival of "distributing Rs 500, 1,000" to voters.
"In the last six elections, I have not at all used money power, never distributed money to voters. (This is the) First time that the BJP candidate has distributed Rs 500-1000 to voters," Mr Shettar told ANI.
Jagadish Shettar said he had been saying for a week that Congress would win 130 to 140 seats.
"Very good response from the people. There is an undercurrent. People from all castes, everybody is working and voting for me. Congress and Jagadish Shettar will get elected with a huge margin," Mr Shettar had earlier said.
When asked how he was so confident before, he said the money factor can change anything. "There are a lot of business people and industrialists in the Hubbali constituency, and pressure tactics affected the result," he told ANI.
Suggesting the BJP put in a lot of effort to defeat him, he said "All of them targetted Jagdish Shettar, and what did that do? They lost the entire state".
"What did they achieve? Was defeating Jagdish Shettar the final goal?" he said, adding that the results will "definitely" affect the 2024 general elections.
The veteran politician, a six-time MLA, had said he left the BJP because of "ill-treatment". BJP had said Mr Shettar would fail to have any impact.
Former Chief Minister and BJP's tallest Lingayat leader BS Yediyurappa had said Mr Shettar had "made a mistake".
"We had promised him Rajya Sabha membership, and we would make him a minister at the Centre. Amit Shah himself spoke to Shettar. I think he made a mistake leaving the party. We wholeheartedly supported him almost every time," Mr Yediyurappa told NDTV.