Union Home Minister Amit Shah launching a virulent attack last week on the Janata Dal (Secular) at Mandya, the hotbed of Vokkaliga politics, is being perceived in political circles as something that can potentially nullify Congress’s projection of JD(S) as the “B team” of the BJP.
This comes in the backdrop of the JD(S) actively wooing the minorities in the State with the party even appointing C.M. Ibrahim as the party president, and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy consistently attacking the RSS in the last few months. Incidentally, it was in Hassan, another Vokkaliga dominated district, that the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi had termed JD(S) as BJP’s “B team” during the 2018 Assembly elections. The JD(S) leaders claim that this tag cost them dear as minority voters consolidated in favour of the Congress, resulting in narrow losses for the party.
‘Ploy to divide’
Multiple Congress leaders from the region acknowledged that it would be difficult to set a narrative of BJP “B team” for the JD(S). “It is a ploy to divide minority votes and eat into Congress votes. It’s also confusing the voters by sharing the stage with the JD(S) patriarch H.D. Deve Gowda and later attacking the party as indulging in ‘blackmail’,” said a leader from Hassan, pointing out that the community sees the Adichunchanagiri Mutt leaning towards the saffron party.
JD(S) sources also said that the attack, though countered by Mr. Kumaraswamy, could help in convincing the minorities ahead of elections. He indicated that the party that had so far stayed away from attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Shah during its Pancharatna Yatra would not shy away from targeting them in future. Interestingly, Mr. Shah also said that casting a vote for JD(S) is akin to casting one for Congress.
Multiple BJP sources also agreed that the JD(S) could no longer be easily tagged as the BJP’s “B team”, and said it could help JD(S) corner former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah while trying to undermine KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar, another Vokkaliga leader, who is trying to drum up community support for himself.
For a three-corner fight?
Perception issues apart, sources insisted that the BJP is keen to reap electoral dividends in the region in a three-corner fight at the cost of the Congress. Currently, the BJP has 15 seats out of 89 seats, including 28 in Bengaluru, in the Old Mysore Region where Vokkaligas dominate the political narrative, and Mr. Shah has set a target of winning 54 seats.
Sources said that the party has been actively wooing the Vokkaliga community and believes that the 108-ft Kempe Gowda statue, setting up of the Kempe Gowda Authority, reservation for Vokkkaligas and a spike in real estate along the newly built Bengaluru-Mysuru highway that could all help swing Vokkaliga votes in their favour. Sources also claimed that Vokkaliga leaders in BJP have not shown keen interest in pushing forward the party prospects in the region.
