BENGALURU: The recent victories in the bypolls couldn’t have come at a better time for Congress that looked jaded and on the defensive after some not-too-good electoral performances. It now seems to have regained confidence to fight the BJP that is aggressively pursuing its agenda to conquer Karnataka.
Though the bypoll results are not an indicator of things to come in 2018, they have bolstered Siddaramaiah’s position, and helped boost the morale of party workers at a time when Congress was facing the threat of a mass exodus of leaders.
“The party, which was losing confidence before the bypolls, is now in an aggressive mode. It seems to have regained confidence to contain the BJP,’’ Prof Muzaffar Asadi, Political Science Department, University of Mysore, told Express.
According to KPCC Working President Dinesh Gundu Rao, the results gave the party a positive feedback on the government’s performance. “People support Congress and that was proved again.
The party which spoke of ‘Congress-Mukta Karnataka’ and claimed that it enjoyed the support of the Lingayat community, lost elections in Lingayat-dominated constituencies,’’ he pointed out.
The ruling party wants to build on the momentum by appointing a new chief for the state unit which will be revamped ahead of the 2018 elections. Incumbent chief G Parameshwara, who has completed two terms in office, is said to have expressed his willingness to resign from the ministry to continue in the party post, while Energy Minister D K Shivakumar too is said to be nursing ambitions of heading the party ahead of the elections.
Party sources said Siddaramaiah is in favour of appointing Lingayat leader and former minister S R Patil or Water Resources Minister M B Patil as party chief to woo the dominant community.
The appointment to the KPCC post has potential to create trouble. It was evident from Parameshwara and Shivakumar’s remarks on facing the elections under collective leadership. Their statements came after AICC General Secretary in-charge of Karnataka Digvijaya Singh made it clear that the party will go to elections under Siddaramaiah’s leadership.
Apart from revamping the party, Congress also needs to resolve internal issues and deal with its senior leaders who often go ballistic with their criticism of the party and the CM. Also, Congress’s tactical understanding with JD(S) will be crucial in the 2018 elections as in the recent bypolls.
“The real issue now is can Congress and JD (S) come together to defeat BJP? That looks unlikely as there is no common leader and both the parties have announced their Chief Ministerial candidates,’’ said K Satyanarayan, political analyst.
According to him the bypoll results have no political importance as the elections were not fought on any real issues. “One year is a long time in politics and issues in (2018) elections will be different,’’ he added.
The party has to deal with anti-incumbency factor and an aggressive BJP with Modi-Shah strategy. “The various Bhagya schemes, free water for slums in cities, Namma Canteens can help the government and the party counter anti-incumbency,’’ added Prof Assadi.