Bangalore : Karnataka, the southern comfort zone of a beleaguered Congress, is all set to vote on Thursday. Various surveys have shown that the Congress is likely to edge past the BJP and Karnataka is likely to be the only southern state that would bring some respite to the Congress in terms of numbers.
While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has promised to deliver 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats going to polls, the reality is that the Congress may end up bagging 14 seats, followed by the BJP with 12 seats. The JD(S) is likely to bag one or two seats as a prelude to sending Deve Gowda into oblivion.
Ironically, the Congress may both win and lose in Karnataka. The party will top the chart, but if Siddaramaiah fails to bag the promised 20 seats, his position as chief minister may come under fire and there is likely to be turmoil in the party with senior leaders baying for his removal . He is a neo Congress convert and many senior and old timers in the party are desperate to see his back. He joined the Congress after he was thrown out by Deve Gowda from the JD(S).
Though Siddaramaiah did his best by addressing 70-odd rallies and clocked over one lakh km in campaigning, he is confident of getting 18 seats. He insists that the high command has not set any target for him.
It has been two and half decades since any party secured more than 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state. This feat was achieved by the Congress in 1989. In the current election, both the Congress and the BJP have taken it as a prestige issue to cross the magic figure of 20. While the BJP is on a revival mode after the major drubbing it got in the Assembly election last year, Siddaramaiah is keen on consolidating his position as CM.
Senior leaders like former chief minister S M Krishna had been taking pot shots at Siddaramaiah. “There are people waiting to pull him down,” said a close aide of Siddaramaiah referring to the recent jibes by Krishna.
Desperate to play a king maker’s role, Krishna is trying to promote his protégé KPCC President G Parameshwara, who missed becoming the chief minister after a shocking defeat in the assembly elections last year.
The Congress is also rife with rumours that Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge may replace Siddaramaiah after the elections. Sources in the Congress claim that Kharge had spoken to JD(S) leaders for support in case Siddaramaiah and his men walk out of the Congress after his removal.
Amidst all this, the key constituency that the nation is watching with bated breath is Bangalore South where ex co-founder of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani, is trying to dislodge veteran BJP leader and 5-time MP Ananth Kumar. The odds seem to be favouring Nilekani, but a dampener has come with news that many techies have left Bangalore for a long weekend holiday skipping polling.
Another constituency on everybody’s radar is Shimoga where senior BJP leader and former chief minister B S Yeddurappa is fighting a pitched battle against Geetha, wife of popular Kannada actor Shivrajkumar, the son of the legendary late Rajkumar.
R S Menon
