People are still fighting for basic amenities such as drinking water, underground drainage and good roads even after six decades of independence.

There is no trace of any development in many taluks of north Karnataka, and the inevitable question is: “What did our elected representatives do all these years?”

Stable government, security and price rise are non-issues here.  What people are demanding is ‘pani, sadak aur makaan’ (water, roads and housing). In fact, drinking water scarcity is one of the major problems of this region in spite of having major rivers like Krishna, Bheema and Malaprabha. Projects started two to three decades ago are still incomplete, and drinking water projects are caught in legal wrangles. Politicians only make false promises without any serious efforts to implement the projects.

Bombay Karnataka region comprising Gadag, Haveri, Dharwad, Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Bellary and Uttara Kannada districts was once considered as the ‘strong fortress’ of the Congress as it used to win a majority of seats. There was a notion that contesting on the Congress ticket was equivalent to winning the polls.

However, this strong fortress of the Congress was attacked by the BJP in 2004 elections. Out of 90 odd seats in this region, BJP got about 50 per cent that changed the political scenario. The Congress suffered a complete washed out in Bagalkot and Bijapur districts. Many ministers in the S M Krishna cabinet were ousted by the BJP
candidates. Besides, the BJP managed to win sufficient number of seats in Gadag, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara
Kannada and Belgaum districts.

This shocked the Congress while the BJP identified a fertile ground to expand its base. Thus, this region became important for both the Congress and the BJP to capture power at the Vidhana Soudha.

The BJP is wasting no opportunity to continue its strong hold over this region and has taken up major issues like Kalasa-Banduri drinking water project, Upper Krishna Project, new railway line between Hubli and Ankola and rehabilitation of evacuees of UKP.

The JD (S) is making all efforts to have a foothold in this region. It did win a couple of seats in the previous
election, but the party is grappling with the anti-north Karnataka image of its leader H D Deve Gowda for shifting the headquarters of  the South Western Railway zone from Hubli to Bangalore.

Former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy tried to set right the party’s image through his ‘grama vastavya’ (village halts) in remote parts of the region. But his party is in a shambles as those elected on JD(S) ticket have either joined the Congress or the BJP, leaving it to manage with those left in its fold.

New players have entered the fray. Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have fielded their candidates in almost all constituencies, and this has become a cause of worry for leaders of other political parties.

S Bangarappa is trying to snatch the votes of backward classes and minorities which were traditionally considered as the vote bank of the Congress, while UP Chief Minister Mayawati has fielded candidates in some seats keeping an eye on the SC/ST and Brahmin votes.

All these clearly indicate that a tough fight between Congress and BJP in the third phase of polling is on the cards. The JD(S) is expected offer resistance is some pockets.