Wake-up call for Cong-JD(S)

The BJP’s stellar performance in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections, bagging 25 of the 28 seats, has left even party bigwigs in disbelief, while the Congress and Janata Dal (S) are yet to recover from the shock.

The credit should go almost wholly to Narendra Modi, as the elections were fought in his name and not on the basis of the performance of sitting BJP MPs. What was unique this time was that the usual factors that impact elections, mainly caste considerations, fell by the wayside, as Lingayats, Vokkaligas and Backward Classes deserted their traditional parties and leaders to vote for Modi.

Thus, the so-called secular votes did not transfer to the Congress-JD(S) combine candidates. Though both parties fielded common candidates, with the hope of consolidating votes, this backfired as their grassroots level cadre, who had fought tooth and nail against each other during the 2018 assembly elections, refused to bury the hatchet and actually worked against the official nominees.

On its part, the Congress devoted most of its time to attacking Modi personally and miserably failed to communicate the achievements of the previous Siddaramaiah government or that of the coalition government or the promises made in the 2019 manifesto, like the NYAY scheme. The fact that many senior leaders themselves worked against the official candidates in several constituencies added to the damage. JD(S) got off to a wrong start from the word go by fielding three members of the Gowda family, resulting in the humiliating defeat of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and Chief Minister Kumaraswamy’s son, Nikhil.

With its fixation on family politics, the party which once boasted of some of the top leaders of the state could not even find the right candidate for most seats. However, this might not be the end of the road for the Congress and JD(S) as the state has traditionally voted differently in parliamentary and assembly polls.

The fact that only two opposition members, DK Suresh of Congress and Prajwal Revanna of JD(S) have been elected — Sumalatha Ambarish being a BJP-supported candidate — might not bode well for Karnataka. In the past, BJP MPs have not been known to be aggressive in pursuing various subjects pertaining to the state, be it Cauvery, Mahadayi, flood and drought relief, or the NEET issue.

The MPs need to guard themselves against being complacent as the voter cannot be taken for granted. BJP parliamentarians may owe their victory to Modi, but their first loyalty should be to their constituency and the state at large.