Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an election meeting of the BJP in Shimoga on Monday. He made a blistering speech describing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as a “weak” leader who has to handle many others eager to dictate terms or unseat him. Modi exuded confidence that the BJP would hands down win Karnataka.
Siddaramaiah hit back at Modi, calling him a “weak PM” who has “surrendered” to BS Yediyurappa and was unable to put an end to the open revolt of senior BJP leader KS Eshwarappa who also hails from Shimoga. In an unprecedented development, the veteran leader had refused to attend the PM’s public meeting, threatening to contest as an Independent candidate against sitting MP and BSY’s son BY Raghavendra.
Unfazed by the pre-poll surveys that have predicted single-digit seats for the party, the ruling Congress led by Siddaramaiah and state Congress president DK Shivakumar is hoping to beat the BJP in the polls. It is planning to go all out against the Modi-led BJP, banking on its five guarantee schemes, caste coalitions, clout of the candidates and local leaders. It feels these factors can turn the tide against the BJP, which is banking only on Modi’s popularity, Hindutva and Ram Mandir.
For the first time since 2014, the BJP is facing an unprecedented open rebellion against its state leadership. Over a dozen top leaders, some of whom are sitting MPs, have raised a banner of revolt against Yediyurappa and his other son BY Vijayendra who took charge as Karnataka BJP president only a few months ago.
Besides Eshwarappa, former chief minister and Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda, who lost the nomination from Bengaluru North to Union minister and BSY confidante Shobha Karandlaje, Mysore MP Pratap Simha, former ministers JC Madhu Swamy, MP Renukacharya, CT Ravi, BC Patil, sitting MP from Koppal Sanganna Karadi and local BJP leaders from Belagavi are also openly expressing their unhappiness at being denied a ticket. Some of them have even indicated that they might contest as Independents or sabotage the election.
The open revolt seems to have unsettled BSY and Vijayendra, raising the hopes of the Congress. The grand old party feels that the BJP on its own, minus Modi, is no big threat in Karnataka, and exploiting the discontent, it can cause heavy damage to the saffron party’s prospects.
To ensure that powerful ministers fight well in their respective districts, the Congress has fielded their kith and kin in at least 12 of the total 28 seats. It has also kept the caste equations in mind when deciding the seats.
Children of ministers Satish Jarkhiholi, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Shivananda Patil and Ishwar Khandre have been fielded from Chikkodi (Priyanka Jarkhiholi), Belgaum (Mrinal Hebbalkar), Bagalkote (Samyukta Patil)m and Bidar (Sagar Khandre), respectively. Dr Prabha, wife of minister SS Mallikarjuna, has been given the ticket in Davanagere. Her father-in-law Shamanur Shivashankarappa is also a veteran Congress leader and MLA.
Radhakrishna Doddamani, son-in-law of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has been fielded from Gulbarga/Kalaburgi making it a prestigious seat.
Geetha Shivarajkumar, the elder sister of education minister Madhu Bangarappa, has been fielded against BSY’s son BY Raghavendra in Shimoga. She also happens to be the wife of Kannada film star Shivarajkumar.
Rajashekhara Hitnal, brother of MLA Raghavendra Hitnal, has received the ticket from Koppal and the Congress seems to have persuaded sitting MLA E Tukaram to contest in neighbouring Bellary.
It has also fielded former Union minister K Rahman Khan’s son Mansoor Ali Khan in Bengaluru Central; Sowmya Reddy, former MLA and daughter of minister R Ramalingareddy, in Bengaluru South; and son of former Assembly Speaker and former MP MV Rajeev Gowda in Bengaluru North.
Former Congress MP and minister K Jayaprakash Hegde has returned from the BJP to Congress to contest in Udupi Chikmagalur constituency.
The Congress is emphasising on its five guarantees that have been successfully implemented after it came to power in the May 2023 Assembly elections. It is countering the BJP’s Modi guarantees with guarantees of its own.
Speaking to News18, Siddaramaiah maintained that voters, especially women, will stand by the party in its toughest election. He said the Congress will win in 20 seats proving all poll predictions wrong.
“Modi guarantee is a bogus. It is only on paper. We have successfully implemented all five big poll promises and will do more after the elections. I am sure the beneficiaries will not disappoint us,” he said.
He is also hoping that a coalition of castes — Other Backward Castes, SCs/STs — and minorities will back the Congress against the BJP.
DK Shivakumar, who has now emerged as a top Vokkaliga caste leader, had decimated the JD-S of the HD Deve Gowda clan in last year’s Assembly elections in the Vokkaliga-dominated old Mysore region.
To save the JD-S from total collapse, Gowda’s son and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has entered into an alliance with the BJP and has managed to get three Lok Sabha seats for the party. His brother-in-law and renowned cardiologist Dr CN Manjunath is contesting on BJP ticket against Shivakumar’s younger brother DK Suresh in Bengaluru rural.
But the alliance has not gone down well with workers of either parties. Congress insiders, in fact, are expecting the fall of JD-S post elections.
If Shivakumar manages to hold onto his caste base and Siddaramaiah keeps majority OBC, SC/STs and minority votes, the election can throw up surprising results.
The BJP, which is aware of its limitations and weaknesses in Karnataka, is banking heavily on the Modi magic to win maximum seats. The state will vote in two phases on April 26 and May 7. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress and JD-S had fought together against the BJP and the combine was decimated. The BJP had won a record 25 seats, Congress and JD-S won just one seat each.