Global Courant 2023-04-12 03:00:54
BENGALURU – As political parties gear up for battle in Karnataka state polls on May 10, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s hopes of returning to power in its only southern stronghold are dashed by allegations of corruption against different legislatures.
The outcome of the elections in the southern state of 64 million people is likely to influence that of the national elections in May 2024, when the BJP seeks a third term with Narendra Modi as prime minister.
Analysts say it will also affect the results of state elections scheduled in the states of Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.
The significance of Karnataka to the BJP is evident in the frequent visits Prime Minister Modi has made this year to the southern state, where he has inaugurated universities, highways, subways, factories, airports and statues – often taking the opportunity to encourage people to spur to return his party to power.
The Karnataka opposition parties have criticized the large inauguration ceremonies attended by Mr Modi, claiming that public funds were indirectly spent on his BJP election campaign.
Allegations have emerged against incumbent Karnataka Prime Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who is campaigning for his party’s re-election on May 10 – although the BJP has not yet announced its nominee.
In August 2022, his government was accused by the Karnataka State Contractors Association of forcing contractors to pay 40 percent of all contracts as “commission” to politicians. Two contractors committed suicide in April and December 2022, blaming the Bommai government for refusing to pay their bills without bribes. Senior politician and rural development minister KS Eshwarappa, 74, who was named by one of the contractors, resigned for this.
Bommai, 63, has claimed his innocence and ordered an investigation, but after the son of a lawmaker was caught taking a bribe of 400,000 rupees (S$6,500) in March, the allegations resurfaced.
He has also told reporters that despite the challenges, his party is “working hard to ensure that the BJP will win a majority this time”.
The BJP unit in Karnataka counts on its most trusted voter – former chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who led the party to its first victory in 2008. The 80-year-old has a strong influence on his dominant Lingayat sect that makes up 17 percent of voters in Karnataka, and although retired, has been appointed by Modi as the “mascot” of Karnataka’s crucial polls.
The BJP, today the most popular party in northern India, sees Karnataka as the gateway to the south.
More educated, multilingual voters and empowered minority communities in the South have preferred their well-entrenched regional parties to the Hindu Nationalist Party, which is believed to reject linguistic and religious heterogeneity.
The BJP is popular in urban centers such as the state capital and thriving infotech center Bengaluru, and in coastal areas where conservative voters support Hindu nationalist ideology.
But other regions are dominated by Congress and Janata Dal (secular), a regional party that holds sway in the state’s agricultural southern districts.