The decade-old Sarvodaya Karnataka Paksha (SKP), fuelled by farmers' movement in Karnataka, merged with the Swaraj India on Saturday at a convention held at Freedom Park. Farmer activist and SKP's Melukote MLA K.S. Puttannaiah was declared the first legislator of the Swaraj India.
The merger was formalised in the presence of Swaraj India national president Yogendra Yadav, SKP president and Kannada writer Devanuru Mahadeva and Puttannaiah among others.
It was not a sudden development, say the two parties. The SKP, which had hoped to join hands with the Aam Admi Party (AAP) in 2014 'to change the direction of Indian politics', was left disillusioned with the Kejriwal's party. This time around, the SKP's quest for a like-minded party led to its engagement with the Swaraj Abhiyan, which had triggered simultaneous movements like Jai Kisan Andolan, Y4S (youth for Swaraj), ACT (anti-corruption team), Shiksha Swaraj and Aman committees (communal harmony).
The similarities in the two parties are hard to miss. If the Swaraj Party was an offshoot of the Swaraj Abhiyan—a movement started by Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Prof. Anand Kumar and many like-minded people hoping to build constructive politics, the SKP originated from the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS), a farmers' movement launched in 1980 by stalwarts like Prof M.D. Nanjundaswamy, H.S. Rudrappa and N.D. Sundaresh. While, the Swaraj India has yet to announce its plans to contest the upcoming assembly polls in Karnataka, the SKP has been fielding its candidates since 1994.
“Swaraj India will continue to strengthen various regional forces that have been working with dedication to build India that is represented by all the marginalised sections of the country,” asserted Yadav.
Yadav also announced the organising committee for the Swaraj India Karnataka, which will comprise Karunakar B.B., Chamarasa Mali Patil, Vasantha Kumar and Chukki Nanjundaswamy (treasurer). Devanur Mahadeva will be a member of the Swaraj India national presidium and Badagalapura Nagendra a national executive member. Puttannaih, who will be a special invitee to the national executive, is also declared the first MLA of Swaraj India.
A 63-year-old farmer activist, Puttannaiah joined the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha in 1983 and served as the president (1991-2012) and acting president of the SKP. He was elected to the Karnataka Assembly from Pandavapura for the first time in 1994. But he later lost three consecutive elections. In the 2013 assembly polls, Puttannaiah won the Melukote seat after defeating JD(S) candidate C.S. Puttaraju with a huge margin of 10,000 votes. He had the support of Karnataka Janata Paksha (a splinter party of the BJP, led by former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa). In the 2008 and 2013 elections, the SKP had put up 21 and six candidates respectively and managed to win one seat in all, while recording a vote percentage of 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent (of the total votes polled) respectively.
