In terms of experience and staying power, few politicians in India can match H.D. Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular) and Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress. The stalwarts have been in electoral politics for around 50 years, and they are contesting the Lok Sabha elections together as part of the Congress-JD(S) alliance in Karnataka.
Gowda, 86, is contesting from Tumkur, having bequeathed his pocket borough (Hassan, from where he has won five times) to grandson Prajwal Revanna. The 77-year-old Kharge, whose lossless record includes eight assembly and two Lok Sabha wins, is now eyeing a hat-trick victory in Kalaburagi (Gulbarga).
Queering the pitch for them are political undercurrents and charges of nepotism. Gowda’s two grandsons—Nikhil, son of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, and Prajwal, son of Public Works Minister H.D. Revanna—are making their electoral debuts. Kharge’s son, Priyank, is social welfare minister in the Kumaraswamy cabinet.
A section of JD(S) leaders are unhappy over the Gowdas contesting from three of seven seats allotted to the party. The Congress is contesting from the remaining 21 seats in the state.
“This is an unabashed display of dynastic hegemony,” said political analyst Ravindra Reshme. “Deve Gowda is guilty of practising both caste and family politics. It is the decline of a great man, who has been indulging in compromise politics since 2004, when his party formed the government with the Congress.”
According to Reshme, the hostilities between the two allies are growing. While Gowda considers Tumkur a safe seat, the ground situation indicates that it would be no cakewalk.
Tumkur has traditionally been a Congress stronghold. It held the seat from 1952 to 1991, when the BJP won it for the first time. In 2014, Lingayat leader G.S. Basavaraju of the BJP was defeated by S.P. Muddahanumegowda of the Congress. He bagged 4.29 lakh votes to Basavaraju’s 3.55 lakh. The JD(S) won 2.58 lakh votes.
It remains to be seen whether the Congress and the JD(S) would be able to combine their vote share.
Muddahanumegowda rebelled after the seat was ceded to the JD(S). As the JD(S) did not have a strong candidate for the seat, it planned to rope in Muddahanumegowda to contest on its ticket. But he refused the offer. He and another Congress rebel, K.N. Rajanna, filed nominations independently, but withdrew after the party leadership intervened.
So, now Gowda is up against Basavaraju, who has won Tumkur four times—thrice on a Congress ticket. Basavaraju is close to Congress leader and Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara and state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa.
The caste matrix of Tumkur—dominated by Lingayats, Vokkaligas and dalits—favours Gowda, the state’s tallest Vokkaliga leader. Parameshwara himself is leading the Congress campaign for Gowda, after the party’s high command asked the state leadership to ensure the victory of all coalition candidates. The Congress particularly wants to ensure Gowda’s win, as he could play a crucial role in stitching up a Congress-led post-poll alliance at the national level.
Cross-voting remains a concern, though. Also, the animosity between the two parties in the Old Mysore region is growing. The Vokkaliga mobilisation against Congress leader and Kuruba strongman Siddaramaiah, which resulted in his defeat in Chamundeshwari in the assembly polls, has further widened the rift.
As a confidence-building measure, Congress president Rahul Gandhi recently addressed a joint rally near Bengaluru, exhorting workers of both the parties to put up a united front. For his part, Gowda has promised to support the Congress in post-poll manoeuvres. “We have to stand by the Congress as the two national parties fight it out,” he said.
While Gowda fights the outsider tag in Tumkur, Kharge faces intra-party challenges. His efforts to promote his son has alienated friends, triggered desertions and weakened the organisation in Kalaburagi, where the Congress has won 16 of 18 parliamentary elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Dr Umesh Jadhav, who had quit as a Congress legislator to join the BJP. Jadhav had opposed Kharge and Priyank, and was part of the group of Congress MLAs who had camped in Mumbai raising suspicions of a BJP operation to destabilise the state government.
A dalit leader, Kharge faces a tough fight as major caste leaders who once supported him are now with the BJP. Kalaburagi has around 19 lakh voters—around five lakh Lingayats and an equal number of dalits, three lakh Muslims, 1.5 lakh Brahmins, one lakh Marathas and nearly four lakh Other Backward Classes.
The BJP has the backing of Lingayats, Brahmins, Marathas and a section of the dalits. Kharge, who is relying on dalits, tribals, OBCs and Muslims, seems to be in trouble, say sources.
“The SC votes are divided,” said veteran journalist M.B. Maramakal, who is from Kalaburagi. “After the demise of Gulbarga North MLA Qamarul Islam, the consolidation of Muslim votes, too, has become difficult. The Kolis (a backward community with nearly two lakh votes) are upset after their leader Baburao Chinchansur quit the Congress. They favour the BJP, which made Ram Nath Kovind president of India.” Kovind belongs to the Koli community, which is classified as dalits in Uttar Pradesh.
Jadhav’s exit was a blow to the Congress, as he is an influential leader from the Lambani community, which is part of the dalit fold. But, with Lambani leaders like Baburao Chavan and Subash Rathod crossing over to the Congress from the BJP, the Kharge camp is upbeat.
Even as he dismisses Jadhav as a “kid playing politics on Modi’s lap”, Kharge is aware that the fight in Kalaburagi is no child’s play, especially at a time when desertions are plaguing the Congress. “My party is fighting to save democracy and the Constitution,” he said. “[BJP president Amit] Shah is coming with a lot of money raised from industrialists. Let them come. No one can stop me from winning as long as janata janardhan (the majority) wants me.”