Karnataka: Is the Siddaramaiah govt feeling the anti-Congress heat?

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that 2013 was a nightmare year for the Congress. If the severe drubbing it faced in the Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi Assembly elections was not enough, this is the year that the ‘Modi wave’ started gaining momentum in the country. It would have been an entirely forgettable year but for the Assembly polls in Karnataka, which it won handsomely. The Congress clinched a sweeping victory in the Karnataka polls in May 2013. But one year down the line, all is not well with the Congress government in Karnataka headed by Siddaramaiah.

While there were reports of the government running into rough weather, an analysis of the votes polled in the Lok Sabha election reveals that the Karnataka government has good reason to worry. The Congress seems to be losing its influence over a number of Assembly constituencies it had won in 2013.

A report on The Economic Times says, “The regime has lost the plot as they have an upper hand in just 72 of the 224 Assembly seats. The party retains its clout in just about a third of the State. The BJP, on the other hand, is leading in 136 seats ­­ from its current MLA strength of 44 seats. The JD(S) influence has dropped to 16 from 40 in the last Assembly polls.”

After BS Yedyurappa’s exit from the BJP and allegations of rampant corruption in the ranks of the party, the Congress had clinched a convincing victory in the state. Reports suggest that the BJP had only 20 percent of Karnataka’s vote share as opposed to Congress’s 37 percent vote share - nearly double.

ET quotes Karnataka Opposition leader Jagdish Shettar of the BJP as calling the BJP’s Assembly segment-wise performance their best-ever performance. “The results have left the Karnataka Congress in a state of shock as the CM had hoped to win 18 seats, but could manage only half of that,” the report said.

The Opposition party BJP had taken the the government to the cleaners early in May this year saying that they have failed to deliver on the lofty promises made during the polls. “…you (government) lied through the Governor’s speech which promised to provide free laptops and sanitary napkins on which you later backed off. Governor’s address is policy guidelines for the full year and you have backed off from what you have promised in that,” BJP state unit president  Prahlad Joshi had told reporters.  

Given that the expectations from the Congress government in Karnataka were touching the sky following the BJP’s misrule which had left the electorate distraught, the decline in vote share should come as a warning bell for the party in the state.

In fact, following the Lok Sabha poll drubbing that the Congress received in all states, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah had said , “When people desire for change such results occur. This result is a setback for Congress both at national as well as state levels.”

The Chief Minister also earned the reputation of a bad loser when he said he won’t attend Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, like West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

However, the Lok Sabha election results seem to have alarmed the government into taking some sweeping action. According to a report on The Times of India t oday, the chief minister has cracked down on the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) and has asked Bangalore’s civic body to suspend officials who have failed to deliver results. One of the most crucial election issues in Bangalore was civic amenities, which included waste disposal, water supply etc.

TOI reports, “During the meeting with BBMP commissioner and Bangalore in charge minister Ramalinga Reddy, CM Siddaramaiah on Monday evening has directed the corporation to punish the officials either through suspension or sending them back to their parent department. " The report further adds that action has been taken and three engineers have been the first casualties of the crackdown.

Also, the party has launched a formal  programme for its ‘revival’ within the state and strengthen its outreach again, one year after it won the state polls. The party has launched a mass connect programme called ‘Congress Nadige Janara Balige (mass contact)’. Incidentally, the same programme was implemented in the state before the 2013 polls and yielded great results for the party.

Will the Siddaramaiah government get its act back together and tide over the strong anti-Congress sentiment in the country? Depends on how seriously the CM plans to take the Lok Sabha poll debacle.