The united electioneering backed by a sustained campaign against Basavaraj Bommai-led “40% sarakara” of the BJP by the Opposition Congress, along with its five pre-poll guarantees, has registered a spectacular victory to govern the State unencumbered by any outside threats, especially the ill-famous “Operation Lotus”.
The Congress seems to have reaped maximum electoral benefits from its five social welfare promises that cater to the welfare of the lower income categories.
A blistering campaign by Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Siddaramaiah, D.K. Shivakumar, and M. Mallikarjun Kharge and the myriad yatras across towns against the BJP’s alleged divisive agenda and bad governance have driven the electorate to vote against the BJP. The Congress’ 173 rallies and 55 roadshows in the run-up to the elections and the ‘Pay CM’ campaign seem to have galvanised voters.
National issues fail to bear fruit
The BJP’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi-centric campaign focusing on the benefits of the “double-engine government” and its poll promise of implementation of the uniform civil code and other national issues, apparently, did not go well with the electorate.
Believing that the 2023 Assembly election is his best chance for the top job in Karnataka, Mr. Shivakumar, KPCC president, built momentum against the Bommai-led government by launching the padayatra seeking implementation of the Mekedatu project and highlighting lapses in the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, more than a year ago. He added new vigour to the organisation by largely focusing on State-specific issues, predominantly corruption charges against the BJP government and hike in the prices of fuel and LPG cylinders.
Bharat Jodo Yatra
Among other factors, the 500-km-long Bharat Jodo Yatra of Mr. Gandhi that crisscrossed Karnataka seems to have successfully projected a political alternative to the people and exposed the alleged blunders committed by the “double- engine” government. The yatra helped the party to understand the pulse of the voters and later encash on it.
A strong local leadership, wide social base, and robust organisation provided a stiff challenge to the ruling BJP.
Rainbow coalition
The scale of the Congress’ victory shows that the party was able to form a broad “rainbow” social coalition behind it. The party’s emphatic victory in Kittur Karnataka, Kalyana Karnataka, and Central Karnataka clearly demonstrated that it had received great support from all the communities, particularly the dominant Lingayat community and Muslims. The BJP has been largely able to hold on to the seats it had won in 2018 in coastal Karnataka and Bengaluru city.
The Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, with a vote share of nearly 17%, plays an instrumental role in Karnataka politics. The Congress campaign of alleged neglect of Lingayats by the BJP after the removal of B.S. Yediyurappa from the Chief Minister’s post in July 2021 seems to have contributed to improve the Congress’ tally in the Kittur Karnataka region.
The removal of 4% reservation for Muslims by the Bommai-led government has backfired on the BJP as results indicate that the Congress won 26 out of the 40 seats in the Kalyana Karnataka region, which has a high proportion of the community votes.
The party’s pledge to roll back the 4% quota for Muslims seems to have largely contributed to the consolidation of the community votes for the Congress across all regions. The decimation of the JD(S) in the Old Mysore region too benefited the Congress rather than the BJP.
