[ad_1]
By Dolly Chingakham: The Congress is looking at a comfortable win in Karnataka, with trends showing over 130 seats to the grand old party – 112 being the half-way mark. The BJP, despite campaigning with might and mane, lost the only south state where it was in power. The saffron party maintained leads on 19 seats, while HD Kumaraswamy’s JDS in five, according to trends around 4 pm.
Let’s take a look at what helped the Congress clinch this major win:
ANTI-INCUMBENCY AGAINST STATE GOVERNMENT
The incumbent BJP government was formed with defections from the Congress and the JD(S) after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. There was a growing anti-incumbency among the voters. The party’s inability to deliver on its poll promises led to growing discontent among the people.
Also Read | King Cong, BJP gone
ELECTION AGENDA LARGELY DECIDED BY LOCAL LEADERSHIP
The BJP focused on the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the uniform civil code and a panel “to grant complete autonomy of temple administration to devotees” – largely trying to appeal to its core Hindutva vote. The Congress, on the other hand, focused on local issues.
Rahul Gandhi began his Karnataka campaign on April 16 from Kolar with attacks against the Centre over the allegations of fraud connected to Gautam Adani’s conglomeration. But reports from within the party said that the state leadership was keen on keeping the campaign hyper-local and take the focus away from PM Modi. The central leadership soon made amends and stuck to the strategy. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra repeatedly said that the election was about Karnataka and not Prime Minister Narendra Modi and urged voters to focus on local issues.
PARTY CHIEF MALLIKARJUN KHARGE CAMPED IN STATE
Mallikarjun Kharge, who is from Karnataka, has been camping in the state in the run-up to the state election. The presence and the relentless campaigning by the 80-year-old Congress chief enthused party workers. This was a marked departure from his predecessor Sonia Gandhi who, because of her health, could not campaign on ground as much as was desired by the party workers. Kharge unveiled the party’s manifesto, which would until the last election be mostly done by the state leadership.
Also Read | Jagadish Shettar, who quit BJP to join Congress, trailing by over 35,000 votes
CAMPAIGN BY THE ENTIRE GANDHI FAMILY
The rare appearance of all the three Gandhis in the campaign bolstered the state cadres. Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi addressed a public rally for the first time since December 14, 2019, obliging the party after nearly six years. The party pitched the Gandhi trio against the Modi-Shah juggernaut and was ably supported by Kharge and Randeep Surjewala.
RAHUL GANDHI, PRIYANKA GANDHI DIRECTLY INTERACTED WITH VOTERS
The Gandhi siblings directly interacted with the voters, which was widely shared by the Congress on its social media platforms. Rahul Gandhi met and spoke with delivery partners, asking them about their issues and rode the scooter with a delivery boy. He took a BMTC bus and interacted with women passengers, giving personal touches to the campaign which was a break from the party’s traditional style of campaigning and was welcomed by all.
Also Read | Unstoppable: Congress’s Rahul Gandhi montage on Wonder Woman song
AGGRESSIVE CAMPAIGNING, FOCUS ON LOCAL ISSUES
Identifying guarantees and zeroing in on issues for the state election began nearly a year ago. Against Mallikarjun Kharge’s ‘venomous snake’ remark against PM Modi, the BJP attempted to seize the opportunity, trying to portray it as an attack on India and dragging Sonia Gandhi into the fiasco.
The Congress was quick to troubleshoot, with Kharge expressing regret over his remark. The party avoided a war of words with the BJP when the issue of abuse against PM Modi was raked up. The leaders followed the script, focusing on local issues.
The party began printing “guarantee cards” and began a door-to-door campaign to ensure they reached maximum homes. The guarantees were announced in a phased manner to generate interest and avoid allegations of poll gimmicks.
CONTAINING FACTIONAL FEUD
The Congress micromanaged and coordinated joint appearances from its leaders – Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar – to put up a united front before the voters. DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah appeared together with Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in October last year.
Also Read | Will re-organise Karnataka BJP: CM Bommai concedes defeat
The party released its much-talked-about video interactions between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar in the middle of the campaign, successfully ending the narrative of feud within the party. This helped the party portray a united stand against the BJP’s defections and rebellions by party workers over ticket distribution.
SUCCESSFUL ANTI-CORRUPTION CAMPAIGNS
One of the masterstrokes by the Congress was identifying corruption as a major taint against the Basavaraj Bommai government. The ‘40% sarkar’ allegations were widely seen in election rallies and social media campaigns.
The strategy was devised with campaigns like “PayCM” posters with QR codes that had pictures of the Karnataka chief minister to set the narrative against the Bommai government.
PROMISE TO BAN BAJRANG DAL PULLED MUSLIM VOTES
The party’s move to mention Bajrang Dal in its manifesto, along with other radical groups, resulted in counter-polarisation among the Muslims, especially in the seats where the JD(S) held sway. The idea was to show that law will be supreme in the Congress’s rule. The message reached the Muslim community and a large section of urban voters who view the outfit as troublesome.
FIVE GUARANTEES ATTRACTED POOR VOTERS
The party made a concerted effort to make a dent in the BJP’s vote-bank of women and the young population. It began to make public its key promises for these voters to pique their interests. The guarantees were designed to appeal to the women and the young and linked to issues like price rise and unemployment. The ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ and ‘Yuva Nidhi’ schemes were targeted to attract undecided and fence-sitting women and young voters.
Also Read | ‘Nafrat ki bazaar’ shut in Karnataka: RaGa as Congress edges out BJP
[ad_2]
