Nothing heats up the political atmosphere like elections and this heat can be felt in Karnataka right now. With only a few days left for the elections, all the political parties are doing whatever they can to woo the voters. But among the three major political parties in the scene, Congress, BJP, JD(S), JD(S) is currently in best shape.
Janta Dal Secular(JDS) has both a good record and support of the public which makes its position strong in the state. While the other two parties are too busy resolving the issues inside their own party, JD(S) has made a good image in eyes of the voters.
The party president H.D. Kumarswamy, was the state chief minister for twenty months and in those twenty months he did quite a commendable job of impressing the people by constantly interacting with them through Janta darshan, this was very popular during his reign.
Another major factor that solidifies JD(S) position in Karnataka election is that it has support from the farmers. During his rule, Kumarswamy introduced many policies to support farmers like sanctioning loans to them at low interest, introducing farmers suicide relief funds etc. All these schemes are still vivid in memories of the farmers and they are supporting JD(S) in this election.
He is also remembered for the welfare schemes that he introduced while he was in office for girl child and women. Through programs like bhagyalakshmi, he tried to bring a change in society’s attitude towards women and the girl child.
Another reason for JD(S) to be hopeful is that it has a huge Vokalliga vote base. HDK, himself belongs to Vokalliga caste which increases his chances of winning the election.
On the other hand, Congress has a lot of failed schemes and incomplete promises in its account which has tarnished its image in public. Siddaramaiah, the face of Congress party in the state has been questioned over many issues like mishandling of case related to the death of IAS officer DK Ravi, high dropout rate from schools under Ksheera Bhagya scheme, failed implementation of ‘Anna Bhagya’. The inability of Congress to keep its promises to the public and its incompetency to run the state properly will definitely make it difficult for Congress to win this election.
The situation is not very good with BJP either, the party is facing an internal crisis over ticket distribution. This turmoil inside the party has deviated party’s attention from the real issues. Moreover, the candidates of BJP don’t have a very good public image owing to corruption charges that have been pressed against them.
In politics anything is possible, but looking at the current position of all the parties in Karnataka it won’t be wrong to say that JD(S) has an edge over Congress and BJP in this election. But again you can never say never in politics!