In Basavakalyan bypoll, BJP’s Sharanu Salagar wins despite revolt Updated: Updated: Share Article AAA The choice of Sharanu Salagar, a Kalaburagi-based Lingayat leader, as BJP candidate in Basavakalyan had disappointed as many as 16 local aspirants. But despite the odds, he has managed an emphatic victory against his nearest rival, Mala B. Narayanarao of the Congress, with a margin of 20,629 votes. The byelection was necessitated by the death of her husband, but the sympathy factor does not appear to have worked for the Congress candidate. Mallikarjun Khuba, a former MLA and the strongest frontline contender for the BJP ticket, had contested the bypoll as an Independent candidate and called Mr. Salagar an “outsider”. But this too did not prove a deterrent. Senior BJP Ministers V. Somanna and Laxman Savadi, who did not manage to persuade Mr. Khuba to withdraw from the fray, did succeed in weaning away a chunk of his supporters back to the party fold to support Mr. Salagar. Mr. Khuba was pushed to fourth place with 9,457 votes.