BENGALURU : Winning Assembly polls in neighbouring Telangana has come as a big morale booster for the Congress government in Karnataka. Now that the two neighbouring states will have common party governments, Karnataka could get rice for its Anna Bhagya sceme and also electricity, which has been in short supply for the Siddaramaiah government, But will the two states resolve issues related to river water disputes is the big question.
In the run-up to the polls, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, their cabinet colleagues KJ George, Zameer Ahmed Khan and Dr Sharana Prakash Patil among others contributed significantly, ensuring the party’s victory. Chikkaballapura MLA Pradeep Eshwar, who too was involved, said party leaders from Karnataka countered Bharat Rashtra Samiti’s campaign that the guarantee schemes have not worked in Karnataka. “We went aggressive and convinced people that guarantees have indeed worked and quite effectively too,” he said.
“Karnataka will definitely have it easy while negotiating on various issues as many leaders from Karnataka have contributed to the victory of Congress in Telangana,” a Congress leader said. The capitals of the two states, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, could see a boom in the real estate business as more investors could be interested with the the same party ruling the two states, he added.
Fifty-fifty for Kanugolu
Though poll strategist Sunil Kanugolu worked out a strategy similar to Karnataka in Madhya Pradesh and Telangana, it had mixed results. He had opened poll war rooms in both states and chalked out strategies to be adopted on the ground.
He had predicted 125 seats for Congress in MP and 67 in Telangana, but the Grand Old Party managed 67 and 65 seats, respectively. “The inputs from the war room were of great help to us, especially when convincing people about the guarantees, which have been conceptualised on the lines of promises made ahead of Karnataka polls,” said Chikkaballapur MLA Pradeep Eshwar.
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Strategists associated with Kanugolu could feel the pulse of the people in Telangana, but not in Madhya Pradesh, where they could not take advantage of the anti-incumbency factor. Kanugolu was given credit for the success of Congress party in Karnataka polls and rewarded with the CM’s chief adviser post. Now it is to be seen whether Congress depends on him in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.