Sagging campaign: Karnataka may bring rare cheer for ailing Congress

KARACHI:

In a sagging campaign that has sustained vicious attacks not only from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) but also from its own rank and file, Congress seems to be struggling. Yet, despite the ominous polls that predict a Modi landslide, the southern state of Karnataka is one state where Congress looks to gain from its showing in the 2009 elections.

Approximately 46 million voters will be voting in all of Karnataka’s 28 constituencies. While most of Congress’ seats across the country are threatened by a resurgent BJP, in Karnataka they are looking to win quite a few more than the six they won in 2009. In a reversal, BJP won 19 seats in the last elections, but it may lose many of them.

In state assembly elections last year, Congress won a majority of seats, dethroning the BJP, and it is hoping for a similar outcome this time round.

One of the races to watch is in Bangalore, where billionaire Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of the tech company Infosys, is running on the Congress ticket against BJP’s 5-time MP Ananth Kumar.

South India is traditionally a very different political landscape compared to North and Western India, where people are more likely to speak English than Hindi. The BJP has limited its nationalist campaign to the coastal areas of the state, where a strand of Hindu nationalism still persists, The Indian Express noted in a report.

Pakistan and China, the traditional punching bags for the right-wing carry less traction, and the BJP has been mindful to focus its campaign on better governance and “nation-building”, the report said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2014.