The emphatic 4–1 victory for the governing combine of the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) in the byelections to two Lok Sabha constituencies and two Assembly constituencies has signalled that the alliance has the ability to give a stiff resistance to the BJP in the next year’s general elections if it stays together.
The outcome has also indicated to leaders of national parties that they can take a leaf from Karnataka while picking regional alliance partners.
The governing dispensation’s victory in the high-voltage battle in the five constituencies has come as a morale booster for the two parties ahead of the 2019 elections. The victory of consensus candidates in Ramanagaram and Jamkhandi Assembly constituencies and Mandya Lok Sabha constituency was almost certain, considering the political tactics employed by leaders of both the Congress and the JD(S), but the verdict in Ballari has surprised many political pundits.
JD(S) leaders, including Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, party national president H.D. Deve Gowda, and State president A.H. Vishwanath have given the credit for winning in the four constituencies to Congress leaders, especially the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar, and KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao.
In fact, they argue that the electoral mandate has provided a fitting reply to all those who have been questioning the stability of the alliance. Mr. Kumaraswamy said the BJP’s claim of the Congress–JD(S) alliance being an “unholy” one had just been proved wrong.
A few lessons
Besides making the alliance functional, the bypoll results seem to have taught a few lessons to the coalition partners, who have in the past indulged in public bickering. The results have also proved that leaders of both the parties can improve their tally in the next year’s elections if they work out their strategies well in each constituency.
In a way, Mr. Gowda has succeeded in sending a message to the rest of the national parties that coming together of secular and democratic forces would defeat divisive and communal forces in the country. Moreover, the victory margin of Congress and JD(S) candidates showed the anti-BJP mood of the people, though BJP made some inroads in Mandya.
The results also stress the necessity of forging State-specific alliance of non-BJP parties to take on the BJP campaign led by the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah combine.