As Congress cadre follow leaders out of party, KPCC chief faces daunting task

MYSURU: The Congress has been virtually reduced to an empty house, with leaders defecting to the BJP with cadres and followers, over the past two years. In 14 constituencies, sitting Congress MLAs revolted against the JDS-led coalition government and crossed to the BJP, leaving the party poorer, with no cadre or prospective candidates in many constituencies.

This was evident as BJP candidates in RR Nagar, KR Pet and other constituencies managed to win by huge margins. With the party rank and file following rebel Congress MLAs out, there is a virtual collapse of the party structure. This has not only dented the party’s prospects but also demoralised party workers. With no leader, loyal Congress workers have lost hope.

Senior Congressman D K Shivakumar, who took over as KPCC president, has many challenges before him -- more than leading the party to power, he has the daunting task of rebuilding the party from the bottom up.The Congress, which lost 14 MLAs from its bastions, now wants to wrest the seats back and return to power, hopefully with 113 seats.

Failure to build the party, boost morale and identify candidates two years ahead of polls in these constituencies would only make the party’s return to power a distant dream. Although the Congress fielded candidates and put up a keen contest, it could not match the organisational strength and resources of the BJP in many of the seats.

Poor organisational base in RR Nagar forced Congressmen to bring in cadre from Kanakapura and nearby constituencies to campaign for candidates. The defeat of Congress in Sira, and with JDS pushed to third position, opposition camps fear the the BJP may slowly take over Old Mysuru, that has 90 assembly seats. 
The BJP has already geared up to keep the trend going and win over people in panchayat polls,  to be held sometime next month.

On the other hand, Shivakumar and his team want to rework social engineering, other than winning the Vokkaliga vote bank, as it did in RR Nagar and Sira. Sources said that KPCC will come out with an action plan for these 14 seats, and is working on micro data of all 224 seats, that could give them a winning combination. Former MP R Dhruvanarayan said that Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and KPCC chief D K Shivakumar cannot be held responsible for the defeat and maintained it was collective responsibility.