BJP GAINS GROUND AS CONGRESS FACTIONALISM OUT IN OPEN IN KARNATAKA

Every election in Karnataka throws up new issues. If the 2006 Assembly elections paved the way for the lotus to rise in South India, in the 2008 elections, it was the Lingayats’ caste assertion led by B.S. Yeddyurappa, which gave the Bharatiya Janata Party a strong foothold in Deccan politics. In 2013, it was the corruption charges on the Yeddyurappa government that saw the rise of Siddaramaiah on an anti-corruption platform. Siddaramaiah, then a recent entrant to the Congress, rode on the “Bellary March” against mining and a personal popularity wave to wrest power, leaving Congress heavyweights aside. 2018 has thrown up a unique question: who controls the Congress in Karnataka—Rahul Gandhi or Siddaramaiah?

While the Congress campaign for the Karnataka elections in 2018 may have kicked off well, with most pre-poll surveys giving the party an edge over the BJP, in the three weeks after the notification of the polls, the party seems to be losing the advantage it had. The steady campaign by BJP president Amit Shah and the party has started to make things swing the BJP’s way. Not one to give up easily, Shah is travelling across the length and breadth of the state, which has helped the BJP develop a strong connect with the masses.

The panic in the Congress camp is evident, with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee ( KPCC) president, G. Parameshwara forced to think about contesting from two seats. Siddaramaiah, who had announced he would contest from