As the BJP, which came to power at the Centre with such a massive majority in 2014, is on the back foot on several fronts — particularly, the plethora of bank scams and the national heartbreak and anger following the rape of an eight-year-old in Jammu and Kashmir — the outcome of the Karnataka Assembly polls, to be held on May 12, will be keenly watched.

Once again the rhetoric is shrill, as the stakes are high. For the BJP, this is the only southern State where it has a substantial presence and where it had even formed a government in the past. But in 2013, the Congress regained power. The saffron party goes into battle on a bitter-sweet note. The bitterness coming from its recent defeats in the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh bypolls, where the party wasn’t even able to hold on to the five-time MP and now Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s Lok Sabha seat.

But it tasted nectar in the North-East elections, and as party chief Amit Shah pointed out in elections meetings in Karnataka, the BJP is confident of winning in the 14th State since 2014.

With barely a fortnight to go for the D-day, a twitter war has broken out between the Congress and the BJP. Attacking the Centre for its failures, in a tweet, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah criticised the Centre on its “broken promises” on curbing black money and for the suffering caused to the people post demonetisation.

Not a clean slate

Siddaramaiah and the BJP chief ministerial aspirant BS Yeddyeruppa have been trading charges on Twitter over the increasing incidence of violence against women, rising criminal activity and deterioration in law and order in Karnataka. While it is easy for Siddaramaiah to deflect the concerns over women’s safety in the State by pointing out the Kathua and Unnao rape cases and the BJP netas ’ shameful attempts to shied the guilty, he hardly has a clean slate and is on weak ground when it comes to rising criminality in the State

It was after all under his government’s watch that the heinous murders of rationalist MM Kalburgi and journalist Gowri Lankesh happened and, more recently, the Karnataka Lokayukta P Vishwanatha Shetty was stabbed multiple times in his office. The BJP also accuses the Siddaramaiah government for failing to protect the lives of many RSS and BJP workers.

In this high-voltage election, corruption charges are flying thick and fast on both sides. While the Karnataka chief minister has been described as “Mr 10 per cent” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has not exactly covered itself in glory by bringing back into its fold the two Reddy brothers of Ballari, who had fallen upon hard times after their involvement in the colossal iron ore mining scam not so long along.

Both have got party tickets to contest in the polls — G Somashekhara Reddy from Ballari city, and his elder brother and former Ballari Lok Sabha member G Karunakara Reddy from Harappanahalli in Davanagere district.

While the pot calls the kettle black, real issues of importance to the people — development, creation of jobs, good governance and clean administration — have taken a back-seat and are mentioned only while slapping charges against one another.

The Congress has also accused the Janata Dal (S) of being the ‘B’ team’ of the BJP and its leaders of holding “secret” meetings with the BJP to have a last minute political understanding.

Well, if the SP and BSP could spring a nasty surprise on the BJP in the recent UP by-elections by coming together at the last minute to snap up both the Lok Sabha seats vacated by the UP CM and Deputy CM, who knows if the BJP-JD (S) alliance or understanding will also take place, after all this is a no-holds barred contest and the BJP desperately needs to plant its flag in a southern State before the 2019 elections.

Short shrift for women

Meanwhile, while all the big netas , male of course, indulge in mudslinging, a shameful factor in the Karnataka poll is the missing women contestants. While the BJP has fielded only six women, the Congress has given tickets to just 15 in a house of 224. This is even less than the 25 women who had got tickets from both the parties in the 2013 elections.

The outgoing Assembly has just six women MLAs and this State, with as high profile a capital as Bengaluru, has never seen a woman chief minister yet; even the comparatively backward UP and Rajasthan can boast of having women at the helm. Our netas might promise “justice for our daughters” elsewhere, in the political arena the time is not yet ripe for it, even as the Women’s Reservation Bill rots in some corner somewhere.

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