Kittur Karnataka holds key to sealing poll outcome
The effects of the concerted campaign will be known only on May 13 when the results to the elections for the 224-member assembly will be declared
Hubbali/Belagavi/Bagalkot: Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and Karnataka’s first non-Congress chief minister, Ramakrishna Hegde, have become talking points in this election, at least in the northern part of the state.
Rajiv Gandhi’s remark in 1985 that only 15 paisa from a rupee released by the government reaches the needy is the BJP’s key mantra to counter the 40% commission charge against it. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a BJP district vice president to an unnamed party worker involved in preparations for a rally, everyone argues that Gandhi meant an 85% commission during the Congress regime.
The effects of this concerted campaign will be known only on May 13 when the results to the elections for the 224-member assembly will be declared.
Meanwhile, from a security guard of a hotel in Hubbali to bank managers in Dharwad, many believe it’s a tough fight between the BJP and Congress in Kittur Karnataka (erstwhile Mumbai Karnataka). This electoral region, the largest after Old Mysuru (64 seats), has 50 seats and is likely to decide who will come victorious in the Vidhana Soudha.
In most elections, a party has not been able to consolidate its position in both (Old Mysuru and Kittur Karnataka) the battlegrounds, leading to hung assemblies. It was Ramakrishna Hegde who became chief minister in 1985 and who did exceedingly well in both Old Mysuru and the Mumbai (then Bombay) Karnataka region. For both the BJP and the Congress, emulating Hegde is the only way for success.
In the districts of Bagalkot, Belagavi, Vijaypura, Dharwad, Gokak and Haveri (all in Kittur Karnataka), the bipolar fight between the BJP and the Congress hovers around issues that are different from the more affluent southern Karnataka. Floods in Belagavi and demands for compensation, agriculture and migration in Belagavi and quota issues and aspirations of the Lingayat community in Dharwad and all across the state are factors that both sides are trying to address.
For the Congress, the inclusion of former Karnataka CM Jagadish Shettar and deputy CM Laxman Savadi brings hope for more Lingayat votes. Sitting in the party’s poll office in Belagavi, a senior leader admitted that the two leaders quitting the BJP will have an impact. “They are stalwarts in their respective regions,” the leader said, seeking anonymity.
As the Congress fielded former party chief Sonia Gandhi to campaign in Hubbali (in Dharwad), two BJP supporters in Dharwad claimed, “Had Shettar contested as an Independent, he would have earned more sympathies. In Congress, can he defend his stand on Uniform Civil Code (the pet issue of the BJP)?”
For the Congress, the charges of corruption and misgovernance against the Basavaraj Bommai government and local issues are key elements of the campaign. “We are vocal for local (issues),” quips Md. Zafar, city unit president of Haveri.
For the BJP, Prime Minister Modi’s campaign is the trump card. The BJP’s district president of Haveri, Siddaraj Kalkoti, makes it clear: “Across Karnataka, we are fighting the elections in the name of the Prime Minister. This is the CM’s district, but he too, is seeking votes talking about Modi.”
