With frequent controversies amid approaching elections karnataka politics is heating up

With frequent controversies amid approaching elections karnataka politics is heating up

Just as Karnataka BJP was sitting pretty after sowing confusion in Congress ranks over how to respond to the hijab controversy, the death of a civil contractor who alleged corruption and harassment by the state rural development minister KS Eshwarappa has put the governing party on the defensive again. Even as the powerful contractor lobby threatened to launch an agitation, a defiant Eshwarappa has refused to quit. All eyes are now on chief minister Basavaraj Bommai to see how he will negotiate the latest upheaval during his brief but tempestuous tenure.

With the assembly elections just a year away both BJP and Congress have begun preparations. The 2018 elections had ended in a sort of stalemate with no party getting a majority forcing BJP to induce desertions from JD(S) and Congress to cross the halfway mark. Though it won the 2013 elections comfortably, Congress cannot hope to be the automatic beneficiary of anti-incumbency against the BJP. In those elections, Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa wasn’t with BJP but now that is no longer the case.

But a decade is a long time in politics and BJP has managed to reduce its dependence on the North Karnataka belt but growing stronger in the Old Mysuru region. The weakening of JD(S) and to a lesser extent Congress has helped the process. But Congress is no pushover in Karnataka, unlike many other states where it is locked in a direct fight with BJP. Both Karnataka unit president DK Shivakamar and leader of opposition Siddaramaiah are formidable leaders. But dissension between them remains a cause of worry for the opposition party.

With hardline Hindutva politics finding greater traction in Karnataka but inflation giving incumbent governments the jitters, the next one year in Karnataka politics promises to be an eventful period.