One day before Karnataka goes to polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah made it to the front page of all prominent newspapers in the State. It was almost as if the BJP was offering to reinstate Modi as the State’s CM if the party were to win the assembly elections, an unlikely possibility according to seasoned political observers and latest opinion polls that have given Congress a clear edge in the May 12 contest.
“Come out and vote, press the LotusButton to give BJP full majority,” the advertisement appealed to the people of Karnataka.
That the Party placed its own CM candidate BS Yeddyurappa towards the bottom of the ad, under the overbearing cutouts of the all-powerful Modi-Shah jodi, is a reflection of the challenge it faces on the hustings. Yeddyurappa, who went to jail in a corruption case after being forced to resign as CM in 2011, has found his credibility further erode after the party roped in the doyens of corruption—the Reddy brothers of Bellary—to reap the influence they wield in eight assembly seats. The BJP candidates in these seats come from minister G Janardhan Reddy’s family and inner circle.
Two of the brothers are even contesting the election while G Janardhan Reddy (the main accused in the Rs 16,500 crore illegal mining scam in Ballari) himself has campaigned for his “good friend” B Sriramulu who is taking on incumbent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of the Congress from the Badami assembly constituency.
With the financially influential Reddy Gang, as they are called in Karnataka, backing the BJP, the costly front-page advertisements are something the BJP can well afford. But the inputs from ground reports tell another story completely. With the Siddaramaiah government facing no real sense of anti-incumbency, it looks set to set a record by returning to office for a second term. What has also helped this is the support from a prescient Rahul Gandhi who has focused more on local issues, unlike Modi and Shah, who have made this election about berating the Gandhi family.
If pollsters are correct in their prediction of the Congress returning to power, it will be the first instance of the Party retaining a State after the dawn of the Modi Raj in 2014.