Dissidence brews in lower rungs of Congress

Bengaluru: A day after the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) announced their seat-sharing arrangement for the Lok Sabha elections, dissidence is already brewing in the lower rungs of the Karnataka Congress. Resentment is particularly evident in constituencies where the fight has traditionally been between the Congress and the BJP.

The Congress and the JD(S) leadership on Wednesday announced that JD(S) will contest from eight constituencies, while the Congress will field candidates in the remaining 20 constituencies of the state. The JD(S) which currently has two MPs from Karnataka — including party supremo HD Deve Gowda — had no complaints about the arrangement. Of the eight constituencies, the JD(S) has a strong presence in Mandya and Hassan. The party has already announced the candidature of Deve Gowda’s grandsons — Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna — from these two constituencies. Bengaluru North and Tumakuru constituencies have a large number of Vokkaliga voters. That is the reason the Congress allowed these seats to its coalition partner in the Karnataka government, although the sitting MP of Tumakaru is from the Congress.

The JD(S) will take on the BJP in Uttara Kannada, Udupi-Chikmagalur, Shivamogga and Vijayapura. These constituencies have come to be strongholds of the BJP. The sitting MPs in all these constituencies are from the BJP.


As, traditionally, general elections were fought between the Congress and the BJP and the JD(S) having no existence — except to an extent in Shivamogga — Congress workers are questioning the basis on which the seats were allotted to the JD(S).

A district Congress leader from Uttara Kannada district said that party workers gathered at the office on Thursday to convey their unwillingness to work for the JD(S) candidate. “The JD(S) has no presence in Uttara Kannada. In fact, the JD(S) did not contest in even one of the constituencies in the last Assembly election. Their candidates lost their deposits in two constituencies. This being the case, we have begun to wonder how practical it is to work for the JD(S) candidate,” he said.

Similarly, in Vijayapura, a Congress leader said that the JD(S) does not even have booth committees in several areas. “With no organisational capacity, it falls entirely on the Congress workers to work for the JD (S) candidate. They could have fielded our party candidate, which would have motivated party workers to fight in the election,” he said.

Party leadership, however, held that they (both parties) will overcome the initial hiccups. “Though we have a strong presence in Mysuru, our workers will ensure that the Congress candidate wins. It is a giveand-take policy. Workers of both the parties will come to terms with this reality soon,” said former MLC and JD(S) spokesperson Ramesh Babu. He pointed to the Ballari byelection where the Congress won against the BJP after two decades. This shows how both the parties, if together, could defeat the BJP, he said.

Political analysts say that the success of the new arrangement depends entirely on how effectively party leaders are able to convince workers. “Alliance arithmetic has to be backed by ground chemistry for it to be a success,” said Sandeep Shastri, political observer.

Vokkaliga base
Bengaluru North and Tumakuru constituencies have a large number of Vokkaliga voters. That is the reason the Congress allowed these seats to its coalition partnerJD(S).