Though the electoral battle in Karnataka is between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in many parts of the State, in the Cauvery heartland of the old Mysore region, it is a straight fight between the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S) and the Congress.
The old Mysore region, with a history of development that dates back to its days as a princely State, has played a decisive role in government formation in Bengaluru post-Independence as well.
With the BJP yet to make inroads into the region, barring parts of Tumakuru and Kolar, the no-holds-barred campaigns of the Congress and the JD(S) have witnessed what is locally being called “vengeance politics”.
Vokkaliga factor
The JD(S), led by former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, poses a formidable challenge to the ruling Congress in the region that has a high concentration of Vokkaligas. Out of the 40 seats that the party won during the 2013 Assembly polls, 14 came from the Vokkaliga-dominated districts of Ramanagaram, Mandya, Hassan and Mysuru.
Part of the old Mysore region also comprises Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s stronghold of Mysuru district. Mr. Siddaramaiah, who belongs to the backward Kuruba community, has been trying to reach out to the dominant Vokkaligas to say he is not “casteist” but a “secular humanist”. This is to quell the perception that he is “anti-upper caste and anti-Vokkaliga”.
High stakes
Clearly, the stakes are high here for the JD(S), as a drubbing at the hustings will erase the political relevance of the regional party in an era of bi-polar politics. The JD(S) has been out of power in the State for almost 10 years, ever since Mr. Kumaraswamy resigned as Chief Minister at the end of a 20-month-long JD(S)-BJP government in 2008.
Training its guns on Mr. Siddaramaiah in his bastion of Mysuru, the JD(S) launched its campaign for the Assembly elections from Chamundeshwari, where the CM is seeking re-election after vacating Varuna for his son Yathindra’s electoral debut.
Mr. Kumaraswamy’s campaign for JD(S) candidate G.T. Deve Gowda in Chamundeshwari is reminiscent of the bitterly fought by-elections of 2006, when Mr. Siddaramaiah scraped through by a narrow margin after he had quit the JD(S) and joined the Congress.
Playing it safe
Though Mr. Siddaramaiah initially campaigned in Chamundeshwari, even resorting to an emotional pitch that this was his “last election”, he has now opted for a “safe” second seat in Bagalkot’s Badami constituency, which also has a sizeable Kuruba population.
The Congress, meanwhile, has sought to turn the heat on the JD(S) by recalling its past association with the BJP — when Mr. Kumaraswamy aligned with the saffron party to form a coalition government in 2006 — with party president Rahul Gandhi, while campaigning in the region, asking the H. D. Deve Gowda-led party to come clean on its support to the “communal” party.
Mr. Siddaramaiah even questioned the studied silence of the JD(S) towards the BJP, hinting at a possible post-poll alliance between the two parties. On the other hand, the BJP’s political assault appears to be directed more towards Congress and Mr. Siddaramaiah than the JD(S).
Curiously, former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, who joined the BJP just ahead of the by-elections to Nanjangud and Gundlupet last year with much fanfare, is yet to make a prominent appearance in the election campaign this year.
Meanwhile, the Cauvery, the lifeline and emotional spark in the old Mysore region, seems divorced from the ensuing election campaign.
