The elections to urban local bodies across the State, scheduled to be held later this month, may have pitted coalition partners Congress and JD(S) against each other, but their leaders are expected to go soft against one another during the campaign.
Even though candidates from Congress and JD(S) will leave no stone unturned to win, they are unlikely to criticise the rival parties and leaders, keeping not only the sensitive coalition relationship in mind, but also the commitment between the two parties to fight the next Lok Sabha elections together. An indication of this approach was evident when Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao trained his guns against the BJP and spared the JD(S) after releasing the party’s manifesto for the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) on Friday.
Congress leaders have also been cautioned against criticising the State government headed by JD(S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy, said Mysuru City Congress Committee president R. Murthy.
The JD(S) is expected to reciprocate the generosity shown by the Congress during the campaign. “We will not criticise the Congress leadership. We will promise programmes that we will bring to the people through the State government if our party wins the urban local body polls,” former Mayor R. Lingappa, said.
But, how long will the campaign civility between the traditional rivals, who fought tooth and nail barely a few months ago during the Assembly elections last?
“We will not keep quiet if they criticise our party or our leaders. We will be forced to give a befitting reply,” said Vijaykumar, president, Mysuru District (Rural) Congress Committee. “But, we will not make the first move against them,” Mr. Lingappa added.
However, despite the understanding between the two ‘secular’ parties at the State-level, a section of the JD(S) in Mysuru region remains closer to the BJP than the Congress.
S.R. Mahesh, MLA, K.R. Nagar, who calls the shots in the JD(S) in Mysuru, was formerly with the BJP and JD(S) incidentally shares power with the BJP in the Mysuru Zilla Panchayat and was with saffron party even in the outgoing MCC Council.
“We have been traditional rivals with the Congress in the region. Our political relevance will be questioned if we go with Congress,” said JD(S) zilla panchayat member from H.D. Kote M.P. Nagaraj.
A few JD(S) leaders also recalled that the BJP, which saw Congress as a bigger rival than JD(S), had even tactically helped JD(S) win a couple of seats in the region by fielding weak candidates to prevent division of anti-Congress votes.
