Page 39 - Tehelka Issue 8&9

BJP is on a sticky appeal has managed to smartly rea- ing every detail ahead of the 12 May macy to the Lingayat community’s irrelevant. Many within the party
Siddaramaiah with a great mass
polls. Amit Shah has emerged as the age-old demand may prove to be a
and in political circles feel that the
coming election is a challenging
face of the Karnataka campaign.
lign caste groupings in his favour,
political gamble ultimately but he
wicket in Karnataka something which the BJP success- While Rahul Gandhi seems to have has clearly hit at the BJP’s core vote one for the JD(S) to remain politi-
let Siddaramaiah lead the way for
fully did in Uttar Pradesh. At the
base.What also helps Siddaramaiah cally relevant as it has been out of
power for over 10 years now. The
is the language factor. His ability to
the Congress, BS Yeddyurappa, the
same time, the BJP, through a mix
of its Hindutva communal rhetoric chief ministerial face of the BJP, has connect with the people in Kannada party has considerable presence
and it support of a ‘market-driven outsourced it to Shah. gives him the advantage while Shah in old Mysuru region, where the
The saffron party through a mix of Hindutva communal rhetoric and development model’, has been try- Yeddyurappa’s candidature has has to depend on a translator. Vokkaliga community has a domi-
‘market-driven development model’ is trying to make its way in the ing to diffuse Siddaramaiah’s elec- several disadvantages. The two Although effective in voicing so- nant presence and is restricted to a
toral formula. As a former finance most obvious minuses are his age cio-economic issues in Karnataka, few pockets in the rest of the state.
state through the Karnataka Assembly polls, writes vivashwan singh minister and deputy chief minister and his tainted past. This has led to a representation of Left parties in the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the
who oversaw the establishment noticeable difference in the way the assembly has been limited over the one-time confidant of Gowda, was
arnataka is the only Bharatiya Janata Party, and Janata of the VAT regime in the state, Sid- BJP and the Congress are approach- years. Reduced to very low numbers expelled from the JD(S) in 2006, af-
major state that’s in Dal (Secular)-Bahujan Samaj Party daramaiah is well-versed with the ing this election. The BJP is fight- in the state, the Left parties Com- ter which he joined the Congress.
the Congress’ grip and combine and the Left. The campaign complexities of national and inter- ing this election as a national party munist Party of India and Commu- He has several times alleged he
is seen as an obstacle has already had a contentious kick- national economies. while the Congress is playing it like was expelled to favour prospects of
K before the BJP’s mis- start since the BJP IT cell chief Amit As far as the BJP is concerned, a regional force. With a ‘Non-Kan- Deve Gowda’s son Kumaraswamy
• Poll sion of achieving a ‘Congress Mukt Malviya and also, Times Now tweet- since Mission Karnataka was nadiga’ like Amit Shah at the helm Although effective in the JD(S).The old Mysore region
polemics Modi, Bharat’. With just a few days to go ed the date of polls even before the launched in August 2017, state BJP of affairs, Siddaramaiah, in a clever is primarily dominated by the Vok-
who always for the Karnataka Assembly elec- Election Commission of India an- leaders have been happy to let Amit shift of strategy, has harped more in voicing kaligas, estimated to be around 11%
led from the tions, one of the most-awaited nounced it. In spite of a lively tenure Shah have the final word. Uplifted on Kannada regional identity to socio-economic of the state’s population. The contest
front, is taking electoral battles before the 2019 of the current Chief Minister, Sid- by the Tripura election victory, the blunt the BJP’s card of nationalism. here is estimated should be a bipo-
a backseat in Lok Sabha polls, the political fights daramaiah, the Congress is facing a BJP is now likely to channel all its By highlighting the local culture, issues in lar fight between the JD(S) and the
the Karnataka are heating up the southern state tough battle against a reviving BJP energy to dethrone Congress in Kar- flag, language, the Congress is seiz- Congress. Although Vokkaligas are
election with political fronts of the Congress, and an optimistic JD(S). nataka. Amit Shah is micromanag- ing the narrative. Even in the online Karnataka, spread all over South Karnataka,
space, the BJP and Congress social representation they are dominant in seven districts
media teams target Siddaramaiah — Mandya, Hassan, Ramanagara,
and Shah respectively. of Left parties in Tumkur, Kolar, Chikballapur, and
At the other end, the JD(S) is said the assembly has Bengaluru Rural. Whatever be the
to be relying on to its conventional results, Congress at present appears
base of Vokkaligas, another domi- been limited over to be the only party that has a pan-
nant section of the population, in the years Karnataka presence.
many regions. Siddaramaiah’s AHI- For the first time since he came
NDA (a Kannada acronym for back- to power in 2014, Narendra Modi
ward classes, Dalits and minorities) who always led from the front is
jibe as a united block has destabi- nist Party of India-Marxist CPI (M) taking a backseat in a major state
lised the former political equations, are trying to stage a comeback in election. That’s why, and also in a re-
earlier dominated by the powerful the assembly elections eyeing on a versal of the trend, the BJP has put
Lingayats and Vokkaligas. While handful of seats across the state, in- up a chief ministerial candidate in
trying to create this group, Siddara- cluding a few in Bengaluru. The CPI the Karnataka elections. Making BS
maiah, a Kuruba leader (Kurubas (M) decided to support the “strong- Yeddyurappa the party’s chief min-
make up around 7-9% of the state’s est candidates” who would be in a isterial candidate was an admission
population), has also ensured that position to defeat the saffron party, of the fact that the BJP is on a sticky
the less-prosperous sections among besides fielding its own nominees wicket in Karnataka. Modi is not
Lingayats and Vokkaligas also get in 19 seats. Former party General leading the campaign in Karnataka
the benefits of welfare measures he Secretary Prakash Karat was more unlike Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana,
initiated for a range of unprivileged forthright and said that the CPI (M) Uttar Pradesh and most recently
caste groups. can support the Congress as well as Gujarat, where the BJP didn’t pro-
Now, with his Siddaramaiah’s the JD (S) in seats where it was not ject chief ministerial candidates
notable decision to grant a sepa- contesting, and help defeat the BJP. and Modi led from the front. Yed-
rate religion status to the Lingayat For the JD(S), there are two pos- dyurappa is going to wear the cross,
community and declaring it among sible outcomes in the Karnataka not Modi if the BJP loses Karnataka.
minorities, he has clearly caught the election 2018. It could either play
BJP off-guard. Giving political legiti- kingmaker or become completely letters@tehelka.com

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