As the campaign for the Karnataka assembly election enters the last week, state agriculture minister Krishna Byre Gowda speaks to Mint about rival parties, anti-incumbency and more. Edited excerpts:
On Bharatiya Janata Party
BJP is just not gaining traction, in my view. (BJP president) Amit Shah has failed to generate momentum and has only induced fear in his cadre. People want some candy and there is no candy on the table. So far, there has not been a lot of traction for the Prime Minister here. I can’t see the BJP gaining momentum. We have been maintaining an edge.
On Janata Dal (Secular)
I sense that people will reflect a bit before trusting the party. They see who has a better chance of getting a clear majority because in Karnataka, we have had a bad history with coalitions. Looking at that, some would want a stable government and a logical conclusion to that is that who is in a better position to cross majority, and that is the Congress.
Anti-incumbency factor
Everybody agrees that anti-incumbency is not an issue in this (assembly) election. This situation last existed (in the state) in 1985. We would have got a pushback if there was any.
Countering the BJP push
Amit Shah has been around for a few months now. Modi saab came in March and is back now. One thing is for sure, nobody is afraid of Modi. Let’s be clear, nobody is afraid. Earlier, there was an impression that – oh, he is going to do a rally here, now we are like, okay, bring it on.
If you go down to the local level, the common man is happy with the rice schemes we have started. We are ready to face them (BJP). They may have a few tricks, but we have now been dealing with their tricks. They have bombarded the air waves print space. While we may not have a similarly curated strategy, we have built up enough strategy to deal with it organically. Our workers are fired up while the morale is not the same in BJP.
BJP’s promise of farm loan waiver
The BJP has a different stand in the centre and a different one here. It is contradictory. They are refusing to discuss the issue in the centre while promising a farm loan waiver in the state manifesto. We don’t need to offer it because we have already offered a waiver.
The scenario in Bengaluru
In Bengaluru, we went through an uneasy situation but things have improved. We have managed to fix a few things and get a few things going. BJP has lost steam in the last one-and-a-half, two years. Modi effect has tapered over jobs, prices. People are now willing to question Modi saab and his statements. While they have declined, we have stabilized.
Role of Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi is not an alternative to Siddaramaiah or vice-versa. They are perfectly complimentary. They never saw him as an alternative and they are electorally complimenting each other. The long-term narrative is Rahul Gandhi vs Narendra Modi. Now, some amount of light is getting focused on the local BJP gang (in Karnataka).