With less than a month to go for voting, BJP turncoats have boosted the morale of opposition Congress in Karnataka. The Grand Old Party (GOP) now claims it will sweep the polls scheduled to be held on May 10, and votes counted on May 13.
Political observers say following the joining of leaders, such as former Karnataka chief minister Jagdish Shettar and former deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi, Congress has started gaining ground in the state at the grassroots level.
“Every election we have a season of migration that tells us the direction of a party. And leaders joining the Opposition are seeing the writing on the wall that it will form the government,” said political analyst Rasheed Kidwai.
Shettar has won six times from Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituency since 1994 on the BJP mandate. However, he was denied ticket by the BJP centre leadership this time.
Read: BJP faces backlash as rebels emerge before polls
On April 19, Shettar filed his nomination as a Congress candidate for the first time from his traditional seat Hubballi-Dharwad Central. The Congress has pitted the 67-year-old Lingayat leader against BJP’s state general secretary Mahesh Tenginakai.
“Lingayat vote bank has stood firmly with the BJP in Karnataka. With Shettar’s and Laxman Savadi’s exit, Congress has got a shot in the arm. The two senior leaders joining the Congress clearly shows Lingayat is slipping away from the saffron party,” Kidwai added.
The senior leaders leaving BJP means they are leaving the opportunity of becoming governor, chairman or director of any board that falls under the centre government, and preferring to remain in the state, and that too with the Congress, Kidwai added.
Also read: BJP woos dominant castes in Karnataka in effort to retain power
Meanwhile, Priyank Kharge, sitting legislator from Chittapur and son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, said the party will get more than 150 seats.
“Joining of senior leaders, popular leaders do set a direction for the voters. Many BJP leaders at the grassroots level have also joined our party. These leaders play an important role in mobilising the voters,” he added.
To have more impact on the ground, leaders of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) have told central leaders that assembly election campaign and speeches be focused on state issues.
The party’s main poll-plank is 40 percent commission and unemployment.
Meanwhile, BJP’s National President, JP Nadda, who reached Karnataka on April 19, also stepped up the offensive against the Congress.
He alleged the Congress means, “commission, corruption, and criminalisation”. His remarks came while addressing a public meeting in Shiggaon.
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