As campaigning for the bypolls came to an end in Jamkhandi on Thursday evening, the Congress and BJP seemed to focus more on wooing voters based on their caste and through blame game rather than issues of development.
In the campaign for the bypolls necessitated by the untimely demise of former Union Minister Siddu Nyamagouda, Congress is hoping to sail on the sympathy wave by choosing the deceased leader’s son Anand Nyamagouda. On the other side, BJP which initially struggled to finalise the right candidate, finally gave another chance to former MLA Srikant Kulkarni who lost against Mr. Nyamagouda in the past.
Although both Mr. Anand and Mr. Kulkarni claimed that they were seeking votes based on development issues, much of the campaign was used by the senior leaders of both parties for blame-game.
It seemed the focus was more on wooing voters of different castes and communities through different tactics. The Congress also systematically tried to encash on the rapport that Siddu Nyamagouda had with the Muslim community. The support of JD(S) has also helped the party to avoid split in Muslim votes.
With Dalits, Lingayats (Ganiga Lingayats in particular) and Kurubas being decisive voters in the constituency, Congress brought in leaders like G. Parameshwara and Mallikarjun Kharge, both Dalits, former Ministers M.B. Patil and Eshwar Khandre both Lingayats (but having different stands on separate religion issue) to win over the voters. Former Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, a leader of the Kuruba community, spent more time in the constituency than any other leader.
BJP countered Mr. Siddaramaiah’s campaign with another Kuruba leader K.S. Eshwarappa, P.C. Gaddigoudar, a leader of Ganiga Lingayat community, and two other former Chief Ministers from Lingayat community Jagadish Shettar and B.S. Yeddyurappa campaigning extensively for the party. With the public campaign ending, it has to be seen how much impact these tactics have made on the voters.
