The shadow of the undercurrent of distrust between the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) is expected to loom large on the elections in the Mysuru parliamentary constituency where the local leadership of the coalition partners is yet to display congeniality despite an air of camaraderie exhibited by the State leadership.
Though it is early days and the campaign is yet to intensify, observers say the BJP will try to exploit this aspect to the fullest and expect the vote transfer in its favour.
Senior party leaders in the Congress and the JD(S) have given the impression that ‘all is well’ and have held joint press conferences as a display of their solidarity in Bengaluru. But such a show of camaraderie is absent in Mysuru where the relationship between the two borders on antipathy at best.
While a joint press conference by the Congress and the JD(S) leadership was called off sometime ago, S.R. Mahesh, K.R. Nagar MLA, said the JDS will reciprocate only if the Congress extends support to it in Mandya. That the Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy suspected a conspiracy to ensure the defeat of his son Nikhil Kumaraswamy — who is contesting on the JD(S) ticket from Mandya — has only strengthened this perception.
However, Congress party functionaries say such things are only expected in a region where both parties are strong and once the campaigning gains momentum, the two will work together to achieve their common interest of defeating the BJP.
Meanwhile, the BJP – apart from exploiting the distrust in the coalition — will have development issues at the forefront in its campaign. Observers say the BJP has an edge here being a party at the helm of affairs at the Centre as it can list out a slew of national programmes rolled out during the last five years to highlight its ‘achievements’ in the campaign phase.
The Congress on its part is on the back foot as it has to showcase the ‘failures’ of the NDA during the last five years and drive home its point that none of the promises made ahead of the 2014 elections were implemented.
Party functionaries in the Congress admit that highlighting the perceived failures of the BJP alone will not cut much ice with voters and hence it may have to dredge up records of both the parties in the State besides recalling its performance between 2004 and 2014 when it was at the helm of affairs at the Centre.
This means the five years of BJP’s track record in the State between 2008-13 will be compared with the development works launched by the Congress between 2013-18 and 10 years of the UPA at the Centre between 2004 -14 to highlight some of the works undertaken by it in favour of the Congress. The MNREGA programme launched by the UPA and carried forward by the NDA will be an example for the Congress to underline its pro-farmer commitment, say party functionaries.
In Mysuru, C.H.Vijayashankar of the Congress is being fielded against Pratap Simha of the BJP.
In the adjoining Chamarajanagar, where R. Dhruvanarayan of the Congress is pitted against V. Srinivas Prasad of the BJP, a no-holds barred acrimonious campaign is unfolding. And with the completion of the scrutiny of the nomination papers on Wednesday, the political tempo will only rise in the days ahead.
