KARNATAKA : Lurching from one crisis to another, the Congress has been in perpetual firefighting mode this year in Karnataka. The party is facing heat over the attacks and murders of Right wing activists. Even before that furore died down, minister Tanvir Sait was filmed watching sleazy pictures on his phone during Tipu Jayanti celebrations.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and home minister G Parameshwara are also at odds. Though Parameshwara has completed six years as KPCC president, the Congress high command has shown no signs of replacing him and the party seems destined to go to the 2018 polls with this dichotomy.
The last few months have been spent in pacifying dropped ministers from the minority and Dalit sections and senior leaders who have not been given Cabinet berths and unhappy party workers vying for plum posts.
Dalit leader Srinivas Prasad quit his Assembly seat following a fall out with the CM after being dropped from the ministry. A one-time close friend who was instrumental in bringing Siddaramaiah to the Ahinda (a Kannada acronym for the coalition of backward classes, Dalits and minorities) platform, Srinivas Prasad has considerable hold on the Dalit vote of Mysuru and Nanjangud and the impact of this will be felt in the 2018 polls.
As things stand, the BJP is expected to pick up most of the seats in Mysuru, while the JD(S) has grown strong in Mandya, Hassan and Tumakuru.Lastly, BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa is raring to go after being cleared of corruption charges.