SDPI's rising presence in state gives Congress the blues

The rise of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), which is linked to the ‘extremist’ Islamic group Popular Front of India, has left the Congress worried that its own vote base, especially Muslim, is shrinking.

In the elections held to six urban local bodies (ULB) last week, the SDPI won one and three seats in the CMCs of Hoskote and Hunsur, respectively.

While the Congress emerged with the highest number of seats in the recent ULB polls winning 69 out of the 167 seats, the party appears to be wary of the way the SDPI is gaining ground at the grassroots.

“We managed to win because we created a base for ourselves by working towards it for years,” SDPI state president Elyas Mohammed Thumbe said. “And we contest only in places where we have a base, or the chance to win.”

So far, Thumbe said the SDPI holds 72 seats in various panchayats and 33 in ULBs. This includes the Siddapura municipal ward in Bengaluru that the SDPI won. The SDPI is also ruling three gram panchayats - Sajipa, Valnur Tyagatur and Govindapura, Thumbe said.

In the ULB polls held in 2018, the SDPI had bagged 17 seats - 11 in the communally-sensitive Dakshina Kannada district and six in Chamarajanagar district.

“Naturally, we’re eating into the Congress’ vote base,” Thumbe said. “People are supporting us, because they see us as an alternative to the other parties.”

The SPDI’s rise points to Congress’ flaws that need redressal at the booth-level, according to KPCC spokesperson A N Nataraj Gowda. “Ultimately, the SDPI is as communal as the BJP. They both polarise and gain votes, but it’s just that the BJP is doing it in a big way,” he said, adding that “the SDPI needs to be stopped.”

Gowda said the party has prepared a roadmap for booth-level activities. “We want to promote young, enterprising and clean-image leaders at the grassroots level while educating voters on Congress’ ideals,” he said. “This will happen effectively after a new KPCC president is appointed.”

BJP gains in ULB polls

In the recent ULB polls, the BJP said it made significant electoral gains despite coming second with 59 out of 167 seats. According to numbers shared by the BJP, the saffron party has increased its tally from 2015. In CMCs, the BJP went up from 10 to 22 in Hoskote, zero to nine in Chikkaballapur, zero to three in Hunsur and five to 11 in Siruguppa.