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Mallya's race to Rajya Sabha fizzles out

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

It is a classic case of love's labour lost! Despite the hype and hoopla that preceded the drama in the run-up to D-day, liquor baron and Independent candidate Vijay Mallya was defeated in the biennial election to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka in a bitterly fought contest on Wednesday.

In a battle royale for the fourth seat, Mallya polled only 35 votes, 10 votes less than the magic number, losing out to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate M Rajashekara Murthy, who polled 46 votes. This was three more than his party has in the 224-member assembly, thanks to the cross-voting from his Lingayat fraternity in rival parties, particularly from the ruling Congress.

While results in the three of the four seats from the state were a foregone conclusion in favour of the Congress, which commands a strength of 151 MLAs -- including a chunk of Independents who jumped onto its bandwagon recently -- the last seat witnessed intense political machinations to prevent Mallya's ascent to the Upper House.

At the end of the day, the three Congress candidates, K Rehman Khan polled 49 votes; Bimba Raikar 46 votes; and K B Krishnamurthy 46 votes. While one vote was declared invalid, the murder of the Congress MLA from Karwar recently reduced the effective strength of the House to 223.

Right from the word go, party managers thronged the Vidhan Soudha, where polling was held till late evening.

As counting for the fourth seat was in progress, defeat appeared certain for Mallya. Sensing the outcome, he left the place quietly.

Yesterday, Mallya had courted several MLAs and leaders, cutting across party lines, to rally behind him at the ballot box. Chief Minister S M Krishna hosted a dinner to thwart the tycoon.

Political observers say Mallya was made to believe that he would garner some of the surplus Congress votes as Congressmen were against a BJP nominee winning the fourth seat. Murthy was a long-time Congressman who left the party on the eve of last year's assembly poll.

The en bloc migration of 11 Independent MLAs to the Congress and the vertical split in the JD-S after Mallya entered the fray on March 14, ensured that the baron will have to fight another battle to enter Parliament.

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