The political scene in Karnataka is considerably charged with former chief minister SM Krishna’s return to active politics in the state after a stint as governor of Maharashtra.The decision of the Congress high command to bring Krishna back to state politics comes in the wake of the Election Commission?s indication that elections to the dissolved Assembly could be held in May.
Krishna steered the Congress to a formidable win in the 1999 Assembly polls, bagging 127 seats of the total 220, but he could win only 66 seats in the 2004 elections.
In fact, Krishna?s tenure as chief minister during 1999-2004 was not a smooth one. During his regime, the state witnessed acute drought that led to a major dispute with Tamil Nadu over sharing of Cauvery water. Having been pulled up by the Supreme Court, Krishna was forced to release water to Tamil Nadu, which invited the wrath of voters from Karnataka’s Cauvery belt.
Moreover, he was branded as a chief minister who favoured only urban development, which eventually led to the Congress losing seats in rural areas, resulting in Janata Dal (Secular) becoming the third largest party with 55 seats. The Bharatiya Janata Party topped the 2004 Assembly elections with 86 seats.
This time round, the scene has changed. People in the state have got a taste of both the Congress-JD(S) and BJP-JD(S) coalition governments. The political moves made by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda to avoid JD(S) transferring power to BJP has pulled down the image of JD (S).
At this juncture, Krishna is likely to focus on consolidating urban votes, not just in Bangalore, but also in tier II and tier III cities, like Mangalore, Belgaum, Hubli, Mysore, etc., which are starving for industrial development. The Congress believes Krishna can garner votes in these regions as he is considered to be a pet of the infotech sector.
Moreover, the Congress is banking on Krishna to break the vote bank of JD(S) that primarily depends on the Vokkaliga community, basically a farming community, to which Krishna and Deve Gowda belong. Krishna?s return is expected to tilt more Vokkaliga votes in favour of Congress.
However, to save JD(S), former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy (Deve Gowda’s son) has already kick-started the election campaign across the state.
The BJP, meanwhile, believes that public sympathy towards it can be converted into votes if the election is conducted in May. The party believes it has gained widespread sympathy as JD(S) refused to support BJP in power as per a power transfer agreement. High on the recent victory in some states, the party is gearing up for special campaigns to tackle Krishna?s election moves.