Given the high polarisation along caste lines in Chamundeshwari constituency, where both the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) have consolidated their traditional support base, the focus is on cultivating the microscopic minorities who are said to play a decisive role in the final outcome.
Hence, there is a renewed attempt to identify and woo these communities as part of the electoral strategy of both the parties. The BJP is said to be out of the reckoning. Apart from dominant caste groups, there are microscopic minorities in every constituency who account for almost 15% to 20% of the voters and are the “silent minorities”, according to party strategists.
Bitter battle
These groups were not taken seriously in the past, but their role has assumed importance in Chamundeshwari, where Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is locked in a feud with JD(S) State president H.D. Kumaraswamy, who is keen on ensuring that the former is defeated. The bitterness is a carry over of the events which led to the expulsion of Mr. Siddaramaiah from the JD(S). This paved the way for his entry into the Congress and his victory in the byelection in the constituency by a wafer-thin margin of 257 votes in 2006.
With the JD(S) consolidating the Vokkaligas against Mr. Siddaramaiah, the Congress has fortified its support base of the major communities from the OBCs and the Dalits. With the Lingayat–Veerashaivas assumed to be divided on the religious minority issue, the next strategy is to identify members of other communities who may not be vocal but have a significant presence, according to observers.
There are not less than 20 to 30 such microscopic communities across most Assembly segments.
In Chamundeshwari, for instance, the focus is on galvanising the Vishwakarmas, Kumbaras, Upparas, Savitha Samaj, Ganigas, Madiwalas, Lambanis, Adi Jambavas, Bhovis, and so on, none of whom are politically vocal.
Some of these communities do not have a leader to speak on their behalf nor have they received adequate political representation, and both the Congress and the JD(S) are trying to woo them.
Mr. Siddaramaiah is trying to spread the net wide to reach out to pourakarmikas engaged in sanitation works, the Bhovi community members, most of whom are in the construction sector, and is seeking their support.
During his campaigning, Mr. Siddaramaiah spent considerable time with the Bhovi community at Lingabudhipalya on the outskirts of the city where there are about 2,000 votes.
Similarly, Mr. Kumaraswamy reached out to the Vishwakarmas whose numbers are significant (around 4,000 votes in Jayapura hobli alone) apart from having a sizeable presence in other parts of Chamundeshwari.
In an election where every vote counts and when the geographical extent of the constituency does not permit a visit to all the villages, both Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Kumaraswamy are engaged in tapping the “silent minorities” through community outreach programmes.
