The BJP, while distancing itself from the statehood demand for North Karnataka, is banking on the fast-developing north-south regional imbalance narrative under the JD(S)-Congress government in the State to help them in next year’s Lok Sabha polls
The party’s State president B.S. Yeddyurappa has announced a tour of the region starting August 9. On Saturday, he appealed to the people of North Karnataka not to support any division of the State and promised that the BJP would fight for them. Several organisations have called for a bandh in the region on August 2.
“North Karnataka is burning today and the Chief Minister is directly responsible. His statements have been provocative and have given rise to the demand for statehood. He must apologise and assure the people that he will work for the entire State. The Congress is also culpable for it was the party that made H.D. Kumaraswamy the CM,” he said.
When asked about MLA B. Sriramulu’s statement on leading a movement for statehood, if need be, he said he had spoken to the BJP leader and was sure that he was also for a unified Karnataka.
Sources in the party described it as a carefully thought-out strategy, discussed in a day-long core committee meeting on Saturday. “The Congress-JD(S) combine will hit the BJP in the south and has the potential to snatch a few seats it presently holds. We will make up for it in north and central Karnataka. The party will keep the north-south divide narrative alive till 2019, and it will definitely benefit the BJP,” said a senior party leader from the region. At present, the Congress holds three of the 11 Lok Sabha seats in North Karnataka; the BJP holds the rest.
The regional imbalance narrative reared its head earlier this month, soon after Mr. Kumaraswamy presented his State Budget, which was dubbed anti-North Karnataka. Even Congress leaders such as H.K. Patil, who is from that region, spoke about how the budget had no allocations for that part of the State. Statements by the Chief Minister on how the region could not ask for more funds when it did not vote for him has only worsened the situation.
Irrigation is another aspect where North Karnataka has felt neglected. It has often been pointed out that issues related to the Krishna, the main source of irrigation for the northern districts, never get treated with the same priority as those related to the Cauvery. Another addition to this is the long-pending Mahadayi river row, for the resolution of which farmers have been on an indefinite agitation for three years now.
No love lost
JD(S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda was greeted with a Hubballi bandh the first time he landed in the city in 1996, after he had become Prime Minister. His government had then proposed to shift the headquarters of the proposed South Western Railway zone from Hubballi to either Bengaluru or Mysuru. The issue has always been a weapon for the BJP to check JD(S) growth in North Karnataka.
In fact, Mr. Sriramulu on Friday also cited the shifting of the office of the Karnataka State Highway Improvement Project from Belagavi to Hassan.
While the statehood demand has till date not found popular support in the region, the dissatisfaction over regional imbalance has always been palpable. Veteran journalist Patil Puttappa, who has never supported the statehood demand, has also sounded a word of caution on regional imbalance strengthening separatism, indicating the mood.
