Surveys indicate no party may join the ‘century club’

Shyam Sundar Vattam I NT

Bengaluru: Reports of surveys done in December have not brought cheer to any political party as no party is likely to enter the ‘100 seats club’ so far. The position of the ruling BJP has not improved and it is still in second position due to stiff competition from the opposition Congress Party.

If the Assembly elections are to be held now, there will be a straight fight between the Congress and BJP, and the Janata Dal (Secular) looks nowhere in the picture despite the ‘Pancha Mantra’ yatra undertaken by former CM H.D.Kumaraswamy in districts where his party support had eroded long ago.

Highly placed sources told News Trail that the compilation of various surveys done by different agencies for the BJP, Congress, and Janata Dal (Secular) in December have indicated a possible fractured verdict and no party may be able to hit the century due to various factors.

According to details available, the Congress Party stands in the first position with the possibility of getting around 70-90 seats while the ruling BJP may have to be content with 60-80 seats and the Janata Dal (S) with around 25-30 seats. While the BJP has failed to beat the anti-incumbency factor, the Congress Party seems to have become over-confident and has started acting as if they have already come to power.

On the other hand, the position of the JD(S) has not seen any improvement despite Kumaraswamy setting a target of 123 of the total 224 seats. Sources pointed out that the edge that the Congress party had over the ruling BJP earlier, was declining primarily due to the sense of over-confidence among senior leaders. The tone, tenor, and body language of a few Congress leaders have not gone down well among the electorate.

Some of them are acting as if they have already captured power in Karnataka without realising that anything may happen in the coming Assembly elections with so many factors haunting them, said sources. The issue which may affect the Congress most is the fight for the Chief Minister’s post between Leader of the Opposition in the State Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah and KPCC President D.K.Shivakumar.

Secondly, the neglect of the powerful Lingayat community and the sidelining of Dalit leaders could damage Congres’s prospects in the coming polls. More surveys this month The sources said more surveys will be done in the next two to three weeks to gauge the pulse of voters which keeps changing from time to time.

The BJP is sparing no effort to join the century club so that it can ‘manage’ the support of another dozen MLAs and rule the State for the next five years. Even the Congress Party is not sparing any effort to cross the magic number of 113 seats. As of now, the JDS may emerge as the kingmaker