BENGALURU: Even as the Congress’ digital membership drive is on, various factors, including internal bickering, uncertainty over the next Assembly candidate and BJP’s overwhelming victory in five states recently, seem to have taken the wind off its sails.
“We are conducting a door-to-door drive, but many people are not ready to identify with the Congress openly, fearing ridicule and questions from others. They tell us they will vote for us in the Assembly polls, but are not prepared to identify with us openly,” said a chief enroller of a zilla panchayat jurisdiction in Bengaluru Rural.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar, who toured Kalaburagi, Ballari and Hospet districts, to give boost to the membership drive, reportedly said that more than half of party’s enrollers have remained inactive. “Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will himself interact with us after the drive,” he stated.
In some Assembly constituencies, uncertainty prevails over the candidates which is impacting the drive. Like in Badami, represented by leader of opposition Siddaramaiah, only around 12,000 enrolled as members as he has declared that he will contest from another constituency in 2023.
In Gubbi of Tumakuru district, a group of Congress leaders squarely blamed Siddaramaiah for the membership drive not being able to cross 1,500. “Siddaramaiah’s backing of Gubbi MLA SR Srinivas, who severed ties with JDS, as the 2023 Assembly candidate from Congress has affected the drive,” said Honnagiri Gowda, the Congress’ defeated candidate in 2013.
The situation is similar in the constituencies represented by BJP and JD(S) MLAs across the state as uncertainty over Congress candidates has robbed any enthusiasm for the drive.
“As on Friday, we registered 33 lakh members, and 5 lakh provisional members whose voter IDs are yet to be updated. We are likely to reach the target of 60 lakh by March 31 as the drive is being conducted aggressively for a week,” said former MLC and convener of the drive, RV Venkatesh.He, along with KPCC working president Satish Jarkiholi, have been touring Bagalkot to oversee the drive.