BENGALURU: The Indira Canteens, which serves food at highly subsidised prices, may well boost Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s image among the urban poor ahead of 2018 Assembly polls. Congress leaders are hoping that the initiative will help the party gain some goodwill among the urban voters.
“The Assembly elections are not too far off. It is a do-or-die situation for Congress and if the party wants to come back to power, it has to win as many seats as possible in major Assembly constituencies in Bengaluru. The Indira Canteen scheme can help us reach that magic number,’’ a former Congress mayor, told Express.
In the 2015 BBMP polls, Congress, which is at the helm of the state government, won only 76 of the 198 wards. It also lost all three parliamentary seats in the city. In the last Assembly elections, the party had managed to win only 13 of the 27 seats in Bengaluru.
The former mayor pointed out that some of the initiatives taken by the government, like removal of encroachments on storm water drains, have marred the party’s image as the city witnessed flooding despite such measures. “We need to reach out to the people. The best way is by providing them good food. The Indira Canteens will help us,’’ said the Congress leader.
Political analyst Dr Sandeep Shastri feels the initiative has potential to favour Congress, provided the government maintains the quality of food, hygiene and other aspects. Prof Muzaffar Assadi, a political observer, said, “Today, more than Indira, we need to reclaim Nehru who has become persona-non-grata in political discourse. Indira Gandhi is largely forgotten, except for former tenants, peasants, zamindars, etc. The subsidised canteen scheme may bring some amount of political dividends, but it will not be huge.”
Senior BJP leader R Suresh Kumar said the initiative is Congress’s electoral experiment. “They are doing it for the sake of elections. But we do not know how far it will sustain. It all depends on whether they can cater to the demand in terms of quality and quantity.
One has to wait and watch,’’ he said. Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy countered this saying that the government has not done this for elections. “We are doing it for the sake of poor. We announced the scheme in the budget and it has been implemented. We are not like BJP leaders, who make announcements but do nothing,’’ he said.Initially planned as ‘Namma Canteen’, the name was later changed to ‘Indira Canteen’ as Congress members sought to give it a political touch. According to them, the move is expected to boost their chances of winning in the Assembly election.
“Whether we like it or not, Indira is still a brand among the urban poor. There are people who still vote for Congress just because Indira Gandhi is from that party. This canteen concept specifically targets the urban poor. It’s a double hit in one stroke,’’ admitted another senior BJP leader. In fact, the Siddaramaiah government’s popular Anna Bhagya scheme too is targeted at poor people across the state. “The opposition parties criticised for us for naming the canteen scheme after Indira Gandhi. We chose the name as this is Indira Gandhi’s 100th birth anniversary. Our government is committed to serving the poor,’’ the CM said while inaugurating the Indira Canteen.