The former Chief Minister and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna has said the BJP has “a fighting chance” in the coming Legislative Assembly elections in Karnataka and the results would clearly indicate that “Bengaluru can no longer be neglected”.
In an interview on Saturday, Mr. Krishna, who quit the Congress and joined the BJP about 11 months ago, said, “We (BJP) have a fighting chance in the ensuing Assembly elections in Karnataka.”
While admitting that the election results are difficult to predict, especially in Karnataka, Mr. Krishna said the BJP had a bright future, considering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personality and his “purposeful governance”. Also, the BJP had “a united face” under the leadership of its State president B.S. Yeddyurappa, he claimed.
On identity politics
To a question on whether identity politics raised by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah around issues such as Kannada flag and Kannada language will benefit the Congress, Mr. Krishna said, “I don’t think so. The people of Karnataka have graduated above that.”
Predicting that Bengaluru will be an important election plank, Mr. Krishna said successive State governments since 2004 had neglected the development of Bengaluru. Recalling the city’s growth during his tenure as Chief Minister (1999 to 2004), he said, “By 2001, Bengaluru emerged as the inevitable choice, both by the virtue of leadership the State presented and the kind of initiatives taken by the leadership for promoting IT and BT.”
The former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had once said people saw India thorough the prism of Bengaluru. “Since 2004 there was deliberate attempt to undo what was done in the previous five years,” he said. This resulted in the city not expanding further even though it contributes over 60% of revenue to the State exchequer, he said.
Hitting out at the various ‘Bhagya’ schemes of the Siddaramaiah government, he said the present Congress government lacked fiscal discipline.
Mandya politics
On the BJP’s prospects in Mandya district, where the party has no significant vote bank, Mr. Krishna said, “Now a large number young men and women are attracted by the personality of Mr. Modi, so they are joining hands. I think the coming elections will spring a very big surprise even in those districts where the the BJP traditionally has not been established.”
