Old Mysuru has become the new battleground in Karnataka politics. The region, which has 59 seats spread across nine districts, looks set to witness a fierce, triangular contest between the Janata Dal (Secular), the Congress and the BJP.
The reason is that the Vokkaliga community, politically dominant and numerically strong, appears torn between its love for JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and the fresh overtures of the Congress and the BJP. The Congress has taken the gamble of elevating Vokkaliga leader D.K. Shivakumar as state party chief, while the BJP is mixing its development mantra with invocations of “Vokkaliga pride”.
Having reached saturation point in the rest of the state, the BJP is hoping to make inroads into Old Mysuru. Despite winning 104 seats and emerging as the single-largest party in 2018, the party was unable to form government. It had to ‘import’ 17 Congress and JD(S) legislators—several of them Vokkaligas—to finally come to power in 2019.
That the BJP has its eyes on Old Mysuru became clear on December 31, 2022, when Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited Mandya, a district in the region, to sound the party’s poll bugle. “A vote for the JD(S) is a vote for the Congress,” he told voters. “Vote for the Congress, and H.D. Kumaraswamy [of the JD(S)] will sit on the Congress’s lap. Give the BJP a chance to form government with full majority, and we will end corruption, dynastic politics and casteism in five years.”
The BJP is eyeing 54 of 59 seats in the region. Currently, the JD(S) holds 27 seats; the Congress and the BJP have 17 and 13, respectively. Two seats are with independents.
Esta historia es de la edición January 15, 2023 de THE WEEK India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición January 15, 2023 de THE WEEK India.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
What Will It Take To Clean Up Delhi Air?
IT IS ASKED, year after year, why Delhi’s air remains unbreathable despite several interventions to reduce pollution.
Trump and the crisis of liberalism
Although Donald Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term to the US presidency is not unprecedented—Grover Cleveland had done it in 1893—it is nevertheless a watershed moment.
Men eye the woman's purse
A couple of months ago, I chanced upon a young 20-something man at my gym walking out with a women’s sling bag.
When trees hold hands
A filmmaker explores the human-nature connect through the living root bridges
Ms Gee & Gen Z
The vibrant Anuja Chauhan and her daughter Nayantara on the generational gap in romance writing
Vikram Seth-a suitable man
Our golden boy of literature was the star attraction at the recent Shillong Literary Festival in mysterious Meghalaya.
Superman bites the dust
When my granddaughter Kim was about three, I often took her to play in a nearby park.
OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Meet G. Govinda Menon, the 102-year-old engineer who had a key role in surveying the Vizhinjam coast in the 1940s, assessing its potential for an international port
Managing volatility: smarter equity choices in uncertain markets
THE INDIAN STOCK MARKET has delivered a strong 11 per cent CAGR over the past decade, with positive returns for eight straight years.
Investing in actively managed low-volatility portfolios keeps risks at bay
AFTER A ROARING bull market over the past year, equity markets in the recent months have gone into a correction mode as FIIs go on a selling spree. Volatility has risen and investment returns are hurt.
