No state is in as much turmoil as Karnataka in anticipation of the Lok Sabha elections. No state has taken the exit poll results—well, not quite an ‘exact’ poll, as the current Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy put it—with so much force of truth as Karnataka has.
The ‘state’ here signifies only the political class, of course. The rest of the citizenry, it would appear, could not care less.
Bengalureans hardly came out to vote, and the hip, young and mobile simply clubbed voting day with a long weekend holiday —essentially voting with their feet.
The techie crowd so identified with Bengaluru, many of them big warriors on social media too, were the first to get away.
The hinterland saw robust voting, but with the drought, villagers have no space to bother about politics now. They are crying for some attention from those who are supposed to govern—for them, right now, anybody would do.
That leaves the politicians, a bickering lot, obsessing more about their own future than the state’s. It resembles a free-for-all or the cusp point at which order may crumble.
A numerically shaky ruling JD(S)-Congress coalition against an eager BJP, ever ready to topple the incumbent, any which way; the JD(S) against the Congress, a Siddaramaiah against Kumaraswamy. And not the least, Congress against Congress.
No one has put their faith in the exit poll giving a Himalayan upward swing to Modi/BJP as much as the ubiquitous Congressman, which species seems to have kept its bags ready to switch camps or so it would seem.
Obviously, the inner grouses individual leaders entertain against each other have found an avenue to be expressed.
The GOP in Karnataka resembles a party of deserters. Gandhi, Nehru, the freedom struggle ... those belong to some ancient Satya yuga.
Rahul Gandhi’s stern admonitions from New Delhi notwithstanding, Karnataka will feel the tremors, whatever be the Lok Sabha results.