BENGALURU: The BJP and the JD(S) are screaming from the rooftop that they will form the next government on their own. But in reality both the parties don’t have enough candidates to field in all 224 constituencies of the state.
The lack of a pan-Karnataka presence is turning into a bane for both parties. While the JD(S) has no considerable presence outside its stronghold in
Old Mysuru region and parts of central Karnataka, the BJP is yet to drop anchor in Old Mysuru and parts of Hyderabad-Karnatak regions.
According to informed sources, the BJP lacks formidable candidates in about 30-40 seats and the JD(S) in more than 100 seats. The BJP has so far announced 154 candidates and is likely to announce candidates for another 40-50 in a day or two. The JD(S) released its first set of 126 candidates almost a month ago.
Both the parties are now waiting to rope in disgruntled leaders, who miss out on
Congress tickets, to field them in constituencies where they have no base or strong candidates.
The BJP has already found one such candidate in N Y Gopalakrishna, who is joining the saffron party after being denied ticket from Congress. In all likelihood, he will take on Nagendra of Congress in Sandur. Nagendra had won the seat as an independent in 2013.
The JD(S) has also netted a big fish in former BJP MLA Hemachandra Sagar, who joined the party on Tuesday after the BJP denied him ticket. Sagar is likely to be fielded from Chickpet segment in Bengaluru.
After the split of the Janata Dal in 1999, the party’s contest has become more or less symbolic in North and coastal Karnataka, with many prominent Janata Dal leaders of these regions switching sides to join the BJP or the Congress.
“There is a psychological barrier for the JD(S) in
North Karnataka and the impression is that H D Deve Gowda is anti-North Karnataka and anti-Lingayat. This has not gone away completely. This is one of the main reasons why the JD(S) has failed to make inroads in this part of the state,” said veteran journalist Madan Mohan.
People of North Karnataka suspect that Gowda, as PM, was behind the shifting of the South West Railway division headquarters from Hubballi to Bengaluru. The Vajpayee government later moved the headquarters to Hubballi, helping the party’s ascendance in the region.
The BJP, though, has been trying its best to make inroads into the Vokkaliga belt in the south but has met with little success. This is one of the reasons why BJP national president
Amit Shah toured the Mysuru region extensively this time.
The party’s pro-Lingayat image has only made its task to gain prominence in some
South Karnataka districts that much more difficult. The party has never had an MLA representing it in Mandya district, the heartland of Vokkaliga politics. Its presence is minimal in Hassan, another Vokkaliga dominated district. Chamarajanagar district is another region where the BJP is struggling to gain a foothold.
