The ruling Congress, which has set itself an ambitious target of winning a maximum number of Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, seems to be facing a Herculean task of finding ‘winnable’ candidates in all the constituencies. Its rival, the BJP, also faces a similar challenge in many segments though its candidates are banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma to win the polls.
Congress got the head-start over other parties in starting the exercise of short-listing the candidates and has decided to go with a planned scientific survey to select its candidates. In the first meeting of the Pradesh Election Committee (PEC) held in Bengaluru on Friday, some senior leaders are said to have expressed displeasure over the names suggested by ministers appointed as observers to 28 Lok Sabha seats. The ministers had suggested the names after consultations with the local leaders.
Indicating the arduous task ahead, a Congress insider explains that except for eight to ten seats, the party is finding it difficult to identify winnable candidates in the remaining segments. Unlike the assembly polls, there is no structured approach to strengthening the party organisation with a focus on winning the Lok Sabha polls. Not that there is any dearth of leaders. It has plenty of mass leaders in every region of the state. But, hardly any of them prefer to switch to central politics, especially when the party’s prospects at the national level do not look promising. So, in every election, they look for new candidates in many segments.
In 2019, many top leaders, including Mallikarjuna Kharge, Veerappa Moily, and KH Muniyappa lost the polls. The party ended up winning just one out of 28 seats, although it was in power in the state then.
Compared to 2019, the party is in a much better position now. It has the proven leadership of AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and DyCM & State Congress president DK Shivakumar. In Karnataka, the Congress will largely depend on the state government’s performance to win Lok Sabha polls. A large section of people in the state are benefiting from the government’s guarantees.
Apart from focusing on implementing guarantees, the government seems to be working on every possible aspect to better its prospects and reach out to people from all sections. To woo the Lingayat community, the government considered the community seers and leaders’ demands and declared 12th-century social reformer Basavanna as the Cultural Icon of the state. In the case of internal reservation among the Scheduled Castes, the state government played it safe by putting the issue in the Centre’s court. Both these decisions were taken earlier this week.
By hinting at a possible cabinet reshuffle after the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress leadership is also sending out a clear message to its ministers that they cannot afford to lose ‘winnable’ seats. Appointments of the heads of various boards and corporations are also expected to be done keeping in mind the leaders’ ability to help the party in the LS polls. Congress is trying to do everything it can and not leave anything to chance.
On its part, the BJP may have a slight advantage over the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls as the elections are fought mainly on national issues and are likely to be centred around Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. The party will also try to leverage the Ram temple inauguration in Ayodhya.
But, the BJP has its own set of challenges. It has to ensure that the party works as one cohesive unit. For now, the party seems to have managed to put a lid on the internal dissension.
According to BJP insiders, state party president BY Vijayendra is personally assessing the situation in all 28 seats before discussing the names of potential candidates with the central leaders. Since many BJP MPs have declared that they will not be contesting the elections, the party needs to find winnable candidates in those seats, apart from any possible replacements in other constituencies.
After its bitter experience of announcing the candidates for the assembly polls at the last minute, this time the BJP is said to be keen on getting the lists approved and announced early so the candidates get enough time to focus on seats. Getting that clarity becomes all the more important as BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) will be fighting the polls together.
Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and JD (S) state president HD Kumaraswamy’s repeated remarks in the last few days on making Modi the PM again indicate the regional party’s keenness on ensuring vote transfer, especially in the Old Mysuru region.
For now, the parties are laying the groundwork for the big battle. A clear picture will emerge once the candidates are finalised.