Election to the state of Karnataka scheduled for today May 12 is unprecedented in terms of the noise it has generated. The two main parties in the fray the Congress and BJP are fighting a do or die political battle. Personal attacks and verbal jibes seem par for the course. Political retorts have reached their nadir. Never before have state elections been fought as if they were of national importance. First it was Gujarat and now Karnataka. In Gujarat the BJP tried to retain power; in Karnataka it is trying to wrest power from its arch rival the Congress. For both the Congress and BJP, Karnataka appears to be the yardstick for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections!
The current Chief Minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah is trying his utmost to hold on to this chair, while the BJP has projected BS Yeddyurappa as its CM candidate. Unsure of a victory, Siddaramaiah is contesting from two seats. As incumbent CM he faces the anti-incumbency factor. Hence the Congress Party is trying to rake up religious issues to pacify the Lingayats and cut into the BJP’s vote banks. Not to be left behind the BJP too is wooing votes on the basis of religion. Interestingly Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been taking pot-shots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi by stating upfront that he would become the prime minister in 2019. These claims and counter-claims about who deserves to be in the hot seat in Delhi in 2019 have only heightened the atmospherics in Karnataka even while real issues are left unaddressed. Karnataka is not exactly in a happy situation as far as law and order is concerned. Bad roads dot the Bengaluru landscape and have taken the sheen off the Silicon Valley of India.
Meanwhile the BJP is leaving no stone unturned and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed a total of 15 rallies over a period of five days in the state. It could be anybody’s game and poll pundits are finding it tough to predict who will take the trophy this time.
