Bengaluru: A few minutes before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special plane touched down at Bengaluru, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took a jibe at the PM in a tweet welcoming him to the state. That tweet drew BJP’s CM face B S Yeddyurappa’s ire. Siddaramaiah once again hit back at him in another tweet. The second half of Sunday was action-packed in poll-bound Karnataka.
Tweets and counter-tweets have heightened the poll pitch. On Monday, after coming out of the last joint session of his government, Siddaramaiah attacked PM Modi in a press meet. His actions have proved that he is now making it a Siddaramaiah versus Modi election. TBJP’s CM face B S Yeddyurappa has now been relegated to second place.
Never in the recent history of Karnataka, has the Congress depended so much on its CM to retain power at any cost. The election leadership has shifted from New Delhi to the state.
At the same time, the exact opposite is happening the BJP. The state BJP is looking at Modi to win the Assembly polls. Till recently, Yeddyurappa was the supreme leader of the party in Karnataka and the high command did not have much influence in the state. Changing circumstances mean that it is now a Siddaramaiah versus Modi fight in which state BJP leaders play the second fiddle.
It seems Siddaramaiah has also accepted the challenge and positioned himself as the topmost leader of the party in the state. On the other side, Yeddyurappa has reluctantly accepted the changing realities.
In 2013, the ruling BJP was split into three. Yeddyurappa had floated his own party Karnataka Janatha Party (KJP) and Bellary MP Sri Ramulu formed the BSR Congress. The Congress was facing infighting and was not ready to name Siddaramaiah as the CM face. Its government at the Centre was counting its last days and the new leader, Narendra Modi, was on the rise. Yet the leaderless Congress won the elections convincingly and the BJP had to bite the dust. Siddaramaiah became the first “non-Congress” Congress Chief Minister of Karnataka.
Left with no other choice, the BJP has made Yeddyurappa its CM face once again. Officially the fight is between him and Siddaramaiah. But in reality, it has gone beyond. To counter Siddaramaiah, the BJP high command had sent Amit Shah and UP CM Yogi Adityanath to Karnataka. But by all likelihood, Modi will himself lead the charge and address several public meetings across the state.
Both the state and national BJP have been making countless allegations against the Siddaramaiah government. To their dismay, nothing is sticking. The shrewd CM is setting the agenda forcing the BJP to react.
According to former journalist and scholar, Narayana A, who teaches at the prestigious Azim Premji University in Bengaluru, before he became CM Siddaramaiah was known for his administrative skills and not for political maneuvering. “Strangely after five years, there has been nothing much to prove his administrative capabilities. It is ironic that Siddaramaiah is now known for political shrewdness,” Narayana wrote in a leading Kannada daily “Prajavani”.
IAS officer DK Ravi’s death, DySP MK Ganapathi’s death, steel flyover issue, corruption charges against top ministers like KJ George to H C Mahadevappa, allegations of favouritism to crumbling infrastructure in Bengaluru, I-T raids on several top Congress leaders, the BJP seems to have failed to put Siddaramaiah government on the mat on any of these issues.
On the other hand, Siddaramaiah has played his cards well by tacitly backing the Lingayats’ demand for a separate religion tag, turning the tables on the BJP on the Mahadayi and the Cauvery river disputes, Hindi imposition by the Centre and the “step-motherly treatment” meted out to the state by the Centre.
The moment the BJP raises an issue, Siddaramaiah diverts the attention by raising some other issue or directly wading into it. With Modi taking charge of the elections, Siddaramaiah is now targeting him on a daily basis demanding answers on various state issues starting from Mahadayi to Cauvery, central assistance to job creations, Hindi imposition to Hindutva.
Like the Prime Minister, Siddaramaiah is also from a backward caste. He too is from a humble background and a self-made leader. Because of this, Modi’s OBC and humble background cards may not work much in Karnataka. Even the corruption charges are unlikely to have a big impact as the BJP’s own rule between 2008 and 2013 was considered the most corrupt in the history of Karnataka. Perhaps, the only option left with the saffron party is communal polarisation.
Hindutva mascot Yogi Adityanath has already set the tone for the elections by raising the communal bogey. Minister of State in the Modi government Anantkumar Hegde has also emerged as a star campaigner of the party solely on the basis of his rabble-rouser image. And Yeddyurappa is not fitting in anywhere in the new scheme of things.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi may have led a spirited campaign in Gujarat but in Karnataka it will be Siddaramaiah who will do that. If he wins, his stature will grow much bigger and beyond the borders of Karnataka. If he is defeated, Siddaramaiah has nothing much to lose personally.
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