The second phase of polling in Karnataka for 14 Lok Sabha seats in the north Karnataka region that concluded on Tuesday promises close battles between the two national parties—Congress and the BJP—as the JD(S) has little presence in these seats. However, the JD(S) will be fielding candidates in Shivamogga, Vijayapura and Uttara Kannada as per the seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress.
While the overall polling percentage across the 14 constituencies was 68.15 per cent, Shivamogga recorded the highest voting percentage of 76.43 per cent and the Raichur (ST reserved) constituency remained the lowest with 57.89 per cent.
In the Lingayat heartland, the BJP is defending its 10 seats won in 2014 and the Congress four. The JD(S) has fielded Sunita Chavan, wife of JD(S) MLA Devendra Chavan, from Vijayapura (SC reserved) constituency as the coalition candidate. Chavan is pitched against Union minister Ramesh Jigajinagi. In Uttara Kannada, Union minister and Hindutva firebrand Ananthkumar Hegde will take on Anand Asnotikar of the JD(S).
The key constituencies that will witness close contests are Kalaburagi, Shivamogga, Bidar, Ballari and Bagalkot.
Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge, who will be taking on Dr Umesh Jadhav—his one-time follower who quit the Congress to join the BJP—is hoping for a hat trick in Kalaburagi. But this is one of the toughest battles for the dalit leader, who has won a dozen elections (including two Lok Sabha polls).
Kharge's clout is waning with the exit of Jadhav (from the Lambani community) and strong caste leaders like Malikayya Guttedar, A.B. Malaka Reddy and Baburao Chinchunsur, who quit the Congress. These leaders had complained that Kharge was promoting his son Priyank, who was inducted into the Siddaramaiah cabinet and now Kumaraswamy's cabinet, bypassing senior leaders from the region.
In Shivamogga, the fight was between the sons of two former chief ministers. Sitting MP B.Y. Raghavendra, son of BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa, entered electoral politics by defeating S. Bangarappa in 2009. This time, he will take on Bangarappa's son, Madhu, of the JD(S) for the second time after the 2018 bypoll. It is a prestige battle between Yeddyurappa and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy as the latter is upset with the BJP extending support to Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent candidate in Mandya, who is fighting Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil.
The dominant Lingayat community has been the traditional vote bank of the BJP. This time, KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre was pitched against BJP's sitting MP Bhagawant Khuba to split the Lingayat votes, which will be an add-on to the Congress that heavily relies on the Ahinda (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and dalits) votes. A similar strategy was adopted by the Congress in Dharwad, where former minister Vinay Kulkarni, who led the Lingayat movement, took on BJP's sitting MP Prahlad Joshi (a Brahmin).
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For the saffron party, which has huge presence in north Karnataka, retaining its hold in the region is crucial for its future in the state, as it is still making inroads in south Karnataka dominated by the Congress and the JD(S). The BJP's target of “20-plus” seats (out of 28) can be achieved only if it can manage to retain all its seats in the north. A good harvest of seats will help Lingayat strongman Yeddyurappa further cement his position as the indisputable leader of both the community and the BJP.
A good performance in the Lok Sabha polls by the BJP, both in the state and at the national level, could also mean renewed efforts to destabilise the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the state.
The Congress, which is sulking under the shadow of the JD(S) and internal bickering, feels a good show by the alliance will place it at a better position within the coalition. According to insiders, success in the elections might prod them to continue the alliance till the next Assembly polls. Winning maximum seats might also help former chief minister Siddaramaiah reclaim his position within the Congress. His initiative in the north Karnataka region to consolidate the Ahinda vote is a well thought-out strategy to re-establish his hold on the Congress to facilitate a second stint as the chief minister.
