BELAGAVI:  Not content with having thousands of party workers working to support their candidates for the upcoming polls, leaders of various political parties, including the Congress and the BJP, have now turned to ‘outsourcing’ politics and campaigning to various NGOs and other private groups.

Tasked with ensuring the victory of their party’s candidate, these leaders are leaving no stone unturned to ensure a sizeable attendance at every campaign. According to leaders, the services of around 148 organizations, including self-help groups, NGOs and Stree Shakti groups, have been roped in for the polls. 
Daily-wage labourers and other people who work with these groups are more than happy to take up ‘election work’ since the parties pay in advance to get rural folk to attend the campaigns.

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All those hired for election-related work also get a free breakfast and lunch and a daily payment of around Rs 300. According to a leader who did not want to be named, labourers from Khanapur, Belagavi, Gokak and Ramdurg have already taken up the parties on this offer. “We get Rs 280 to Rs 310 as well as one meal and tea per day to follow the candidate. Around 40 of us make arrangements for the meetings being organized by the candidate in villages,” said Nagamma Haratal,  a member of a self-help group in Belagavi. 

For others, it is the promise of quick help for the target group that the NGO assists. “Local leaders help in getting various facilities like ration card to rural families. I was asked to bring 100 to 150 people for canvassing and was assured that all would be paid in advance,” said Ramoji Kelagadi, the coordinator for an NGO. 

The willingness by parties to pay up to Rs 300 has resulted in a shortage of workers for the Mahatma Gandhi National rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA). Under this scheme, workers are paid Rs 224 per day, a sizeable difference from what the politicians have to offer. 

 “A large number of MNREGA workers in rural areas have joined political campaigns attracted by the higher ‘wages’,” said a leader from Belagavi, on condition of anonymity. In the meantime, all MNREGA work has ground to a halt. “In spite of being warned, many are keen to join the campaign for a change,” rued a member of a Zilla Panchayat in Belagavi.