Karnataka: Modi, BJP look to topple coalition government

Asaffron surge in Karnataka has demolished the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition in the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP won by a landslide, wresting 25 of 28 seats, bettering its 2014 tally by eight seats. The Congress and the JD(S) won just one seat each. Following the debacle, the future of the one-year-old coalition government looks bleak.

An upbeat BJP, which rode the Modi wave, had its strategy in place as it successfully tapped into the discord between the coalition partners and grabbed more than 50 per cent of the total votes polled. While all sitting BJP MPs, including Union ministers Ramesh Jigajinagi, Anant Kumar Hegde and D.V. Sadananda Gowda retained their seats, coalition stalwarts like Mallikarjun Kharge, Veerappa Moily and K.H. Muniyappa lost by huge margins. Even former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda tasted defeat. In Mandya, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, lost to independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh, who allegedly had the tacit support of rebel Congress leaders.

A saving grace for the Congress is the victory of D.K. Suresh, brother of Water Resources Minister and Vokkaliga strongman D.K. Shivakumar, who retained his Bangalore Rural seat. Deve Gowda’s grandson Prajwal (son of PWD Minister H.D. Revanna) won the Hassan seat, held by Deve Gowda.

The BJP managed to upset the arithmetic of the combined vote share of the coalition partners. It maintained the upper hand it had in the Lingayat heartland in north Karnataka, while making aggressive inroads into south Karnataka, the bastion of the Congress and the JD(S).

The poll outcome has exposed the faultlines within the Congress and the widening rift between the coalition partners. While political compulsions pushed the arch rivals to forge an alliance, the growing hostilities at the grassroots and the ego clashes among senior leaders seem to have put them on a collision course. Senior leaders acknowledge that the cadres and local leaders were never in favour of the alliance. Subsequently, both the Congress and the JD(S) failed to transfer their votes to the alliance candidates.

The tug-of-war between the allies peaked during the seat-sharing talks, forcing Congress president Rahul Gandhi to ask leaders and cadres of both parties to work together. The intervention, however, failed to arrest the rift despite Deve Gowda and Siddaramaiah launching a joint campaign.

Internal bickering surfaced as soon as the polling was over. Kumaraswamy hailed Kharge as a potential chief minister candidate to spite Siddaramaiah, who immediately spoke of Revanna as a “capable future deputy CM”. Both leaders were hinting at the possibility of renegotiating the coalition terms. The outburst of senior Congressman R. Roshan Baig against Siddaramaiah added to the chaos.

With the announcement of the results, the blame game has begun, with both parties voicing their discontent. JD(S) state president A.H. Vishwanath said the joint campaign did not go beyond roadshows. “The Congress did not campaign for our candidate, especially in Mandya. Many things have gone wrong between the allies,” said Vishwanath. The BJP’s massive mandate has once again given hope to Congress rebels led by Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, who is keen to cross over to the BJP.

Kumaraswamy reacted to the results on Twitter and tweeted a congratulatory message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said the coalition leaders would hold a discussion about the loss. Siddaramaiah, who heads the coordination committee, accepted the verdict. “The result was most unexpected, but we have bagged 40 per cent vote share. We will work harder to organise our party,” he said.