SIDDA'S CASTE RESORT

An embattled chief minister, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) looming in the background, a contentious caste census and high-stakes bypolls.

- Ajay Sukumaran

There's a potent mix of cards at play in Karnataka, confounding the clamour by Opposition parties for CM Siddaramaiah's resignation in the wake of a Lokayukta investigation into l'affaire MUDA (Mysore Urban Development Authority)the allegation that his wife, Parvathi B.M., had sought to make a windfall gain from an allotment of housing plots by the authority. A distraction, which can metastasise into the main course, looms in the shape of a caste count: a decade-old census has been pulled out from cold storage, with Siddaramaiah resolving to place it before his cabinet for discussion this month. All of it will come to a head as the campaign picks up for the assembly bypolls in Sandur, Shiggaon and Channapatna, which the Election Commission has scheduled for November 13.