BENGALURU: Not many in Australia, England or Japan would know who the Karnataka Chief Minister is, or anything about our much-talked about state Assembly elections. However, as the poll fever is rising by the day, many capitals of other countries, including Canberra, London and Tokyo are keenly following the political developments in Karnataka.
Foreign diplomats stationed in New Delhi and Chennai are visiting Bengaluru and other parts of the state to gauge the public mood ahead of the elections. They are interacting with politicians, opinion makers and other stakeholders to make sense of the situation before dispatching their reports on the evolving political situation in Karnataka to their respective national capitals.
“For us, Karnataka elections are important as it will give us an indication of things to come in the 2019 Parliamentary elections when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek re-election,” a diplomat from the national capital told Express. He was in Bengaluru recently to gather information about the state elections.
According to an Australian diplomat from Chennai, Karnataka elections are like the semi-finals before the 2019 Parliamentary elections and his government is keen to know how people perceive the recent measures taken by Modi.
Although the state Assembly elections, unlike the Parliament polls, are fought mostly on local issues, Central leaders like Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be campaigning extensively for their respective parties. To some extent, their popularity too will be put to test, another diplomat said.
During their interactions with stakeholders, foreign diplomats are trying to understand various factors like key leaders in Congress and BJP, the Modi factor and its relevance, impact of measures such as Goods and Services Tax (GST), demonetisation, and the role of caste and money in the elections. Developments related to JD(S), the only regional party, too, are being closely followed. They are looking at JD(S) as a crucial player in Karnataka in the event of national parties like Congress and BJP failing to get a clear majority in the state.
Foreign diplomats are not leaving out any players in the state politics. On Tuesday, Dr Alexander Evans, British Deputy High Commissioner to India, Dominic McAllister, British Deputy High Commissioner in Bengaluru, and Alex Cameron, Head of Political and Bilateral Affairs, met JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy at his residence in Bengaluru.
“They were curious to know the political developments here. We had detailed discussions about the political developments and our party’s vision for the state,” Kumaraswamy said after the meeting.