A large chunk of credit for the Indian National Congress’s (INC) spirited fight in Karnataka in the Lok Sabha elections, after a near wipeout in the last parliamentary polls should go to party President Mallikarjun Kharge’s rigorous efforts to build up the party’s hold in specific regions of the state. The old fox’s emotional appeal to his people along with Congress’ performance in the State after winning Assembly elections, and the ‘Modi factor’ wearing off, has put INC back on the map.
81-year-old Kharge, referred to as “Solillada Sardara” (the invincible leader), although he lost in 2019 to his home constituency of Gulbarga, has had a perfect redemption arc this election season. Even though he did not contest the election himself this time, he helped the party gain ground in his native Kalyana Karnataka region, where it scored substantial wins.
Kharge’s son-in-law, Radhakrishna Doddamani, whom he campaigned extensively for, won in Gulbarga by 27205 votes against the BJP’s Umesh Jadhav, who had defeated him last time. Jadhav, a one-time right-hand man of Kharge, had joined the BJP and, in the last polls, had upset Kharge. This time too, Modi kicked off his Karnataka campaign with a rally in Gulbarga.
Out of the nine seats INC won in Karnataka, five seats are from the Kalyana Karnataka region: Bidar, Ballari, Kalaburagi, Koppal, and Raichur. The emotional appeal he made to his people was saying, “You are aware of the development work I have done as an MP and minister. I will assume that there’s no place for me in your heart if the Congress party loses again,” seemed to have struck a chord. Along with this, the party also played up the role played by Kharge to get special provision under Article 371(J) for the region a decade ago, which has drawn focus to drive development there.
“People in the region have respected Kharge and the post that he was holding, and possibly also thought that if Congress comes to power, one of their men could be the prime minister. So his efforts in trying to bring a little emotion into the region and to his party and to support his candidates have actually worked,” commented political analyst Harish Ramaswamy.
Even nationally, Kharge is being credited for working towards forming the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) alliance to put up a united front.
In Karnataka, the result this season is an improvement for the party from the last time. In 2019, INC had managed to win only one seat in the state. Interestingly, Congress’ strategy of feilding sons, daughters, and close relatives of prevalent leaders has worked out. Seven — Sagar Eshwar Khandre, Radhakrishna Doddamani, Priyanka Jarkiholi, Rajshekar Hitnal, Prabha Mallikarjun, Shreyas Patel, and Sunil Bose — out of nine that won are ‘dynasty’ candidates.
With inputs from BL Intern Nivasini Azhagappan