First list out, K’taka is poll-ready

The ball has been set rolling for the Karnataka Assembly polls due in May next year with the Janata Dal(S) announcing its first list of 93 candidates on Monday. As expected, former CM HD Kumaraswamy is all set to fight from Chennapatna while son Nikhil, who had his political baptism fighting Sumalatha Ambareesh in the 2019 Parliament polls in Mandya, will try to make it to the Assembly from Ramanagara.

Deve Gowda’s party has also decided to keep sulking MLA GT Devegowda in good stead by fielding him again from Chamundeshwari even while allotting the Hunsur seat to his son. Most JD(S) heavyweights have been allotted seats like DC Thamanna (Maddur), Dr Ravindra Srikanthaiah (Srirangapatna), CS Puttaraju (Melukote) and Bandeppa Kashempur (Bidar South). The Congress party is not lagging behind and has announced that its candidates list will in all likelihood be ready by January 15, which gives the party more than three months to get its poll act right.

The party, say sources, is facing a problem of plenty with more than three prospective candidates for each seat despite the application fee being a whopping Rs 2 lakh per seat. The rush is understandable with current indications pointing to a favourable situation for the Congress vis-a-vis the ruling BJP, which may have to pay for its lackadaisical performance in government and the disunity among its leaders. Not that all is hunky-dory in the Congress; as the candidate selection progresses, there are sure to be hiccups with camps owing allegiance to Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar demanding their pound of flesh.

This is all the more likely as both leaders are aspirants for the CM’s chair and would like to see their loyalists in the Assembly, which would help further their chances of making it to the hot seat. The Congress top brass is sure to have a tough time placating different factions as they go about the seat selection process. The party that has its platter full is the BJP, which, despite a series of administrative lapses, internal dissent and its failure to implement a cabinet reshuffle, is hoping to ride back to power banking on the support of the dominant Lingayat vote bank (as high as 17% of the population).

What has turned out to be a source of worry is the ‘BSY factor’ with the veteran leader, who enjoys a good equation with the many mutts of the community, blowing hot and cold in recent months. However much the BJP high command may like to ‘retire’ Yediyurappa and bring to the fore a set of younger leaders, it cannot for now, for none of the other Lingayat leaders of the party have a state-wide appeal so essential for attracting voters.

The ex-CM is grooming son Vijayendra for the Shikaripura seat he represents and the BJP will have to fall in line if it wants the Lingayat strongman to fully utilise his potential for the campaign. Though it’s still early days as far as the polls are concerned, the Congress no doubt has an edge according to present indications. The coming weeks and months will prove if the party’s poll managers get their act right by focusing on the right issues like poor governance, corruption and polarizing campaigns of the far-right, which have played havoc with harmony in the state.

The BJP, which has been finding it enormously difficult to build base in TN and Kerala, is sure to put in a herculean effort to retain Karnataka in its kitty by riding on PM Modi’s appeal. All that Kannadigas will be hoping for is a clear mandate, so that they can get on with his daily chores without having to lend an ear to reports of political instability all the time.