BJP hopes to make best use of Congress-JD(S) discord
Karnataka is the second largest state in southern India after Tamil Nadu in terms of number of seats, with 28 constituencies. It will go to polls in two phases — on April 18 and April 23.
There is a direct fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Dal(secular)-Congress combine. The Congress will contest 20 seats while the JD-S will fight on eight seats.
However, the alliance is experiencing hiccups in some constituencies like Mandya, Hassan and Tumkuru as Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has alleged that some of the Congress members are hand-in-glove with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to defeat his family members.
The chief minister was vocal, particularly about Mandya from where his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy is fighting against Independent candidate, actor Sumalatha, the wife of deceased Kannada film star Ambareesh.
This was evident when the Congress dissidents refused to back Nikhil during a meeting with former chief minister and Congress legislature party leader Siddarmaiah.
Support for Sumalatha got a boost when Prime Minister Narendra Modi backed the actor and praised her and Ambareesh during an election campaign rally in Mysuru this week.
There is an alienation in the Congress group in old Mysuru region over the alliance with the JD-S.
The Karnataka coalition has seen several rocky moments in
the recent past. Some Congress leaders are not very happy with the way Kumaraswamy has ‘treated’ them ever since the Congress extended unconditional support to the JD-S to form the government.
The ongoing wrangling will dent the prospects of the alliance candidates in the affected areas and could prove advantageous to the BJP.
As the Congress and the JD-S grapple with the intractable dissidence, there is another dimension to the polls in Karnataka — the caste equations between Vokkaligas and Kurubas. In Mandya, Mysuru-Kodagu, Hassan and Tumakuru, party workers are divided along the caste lines.
The humiliating defeat of Kuruba leader Siddaramaiah at the hands of Vokkaliga leader G T Deve Gowda in Chamundeshwari assembly constituency has added fuel to the simmering rift.
Vokkaligas, who reportedly make 14 per cent of the total population, could make or break the chances of Congress candidate CH Vijayashankar from the Kuruba caste in Mysuru-Kodagu. Likewise, Kuruba vote will decide the fate of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda in Tumakuru and Kumaraswamy’s sons Nikhil (Mandya) and Prajwal Revanna (Hassan).
The internal tensions within the ruling coalition will certainly give an advantage to the BJP in several places.
Siddarmaiah too doesn’t seem to be very comfortable with the chief minister and his father Deve Gowda ever since he conceded the chief minister post. But his social engineering is blamed for the Congress debacle in the assembly polls than any other factor.
The Congress government’s recognition of Lingayats as separate
Sumalatha supported her husband and Kannada film star M.H. Ambareesh in promoting the native language and its culture for years. I express gratitude to Ambareesh and Sumalatha for their contribution to Kannada
Narendra Modi, Prime Minister
community didn’t go well with the majority Hindus and was perceived as an attempt to divide the community.
Despite the Congress efforts to woo the Lingayats, which make up 17 to 18 per cent of the population in North Karnataka, the community has mostly been loyal to the BJP.
The group plays a deciding role in 11 of the 14 constituencies in this region. The BJP got traction among Lingayats because its leader B S Yeddyurappa hails from the community.
A total of 478 candidates are in the fray for the 28 constituencies in both the phases. In the first phase, 241 candidates are contesting, while the second phase will feature 237 candidates.
Belgaum has highest number of candidates — 57, followed by Davanagere 25, and Bidar 22.
The 14 constituencies that will go to vote in the first phase on April 18 are Udupi-Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga (SC), Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajnagar (SC), Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkaballapur and Kolar (SC).