BENGALURU: Five days away from crucial bypolls to the Legislative Assembly, most Congress leaders are convinced their party will not be able to stop the BJP juggernaut from rolling past the victory line in a majority of the 15 constituencies although CLP leader Siddaramaiah exuded confidence of forming a new government during his campaign tour of north Karnataka, on Saturday.
Except for some seats like Hunsur, Ranebennur and Gokak, where the party seems set to win owing to its support base and other local factors, state Congress leaders are banking on infighting within the ruling BJP to spring a surprise in Kagwad and Athani. In other constituencies, the party has failed to field tough candidates or has remained unsuccessful in portraying a united team though KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao, former minister D K Shivakumar, R Ramalinga Reddy and U T Khader have either campaigned independently or joined Mr Siddaramaiah during his extensive tour of the segments. In contrast, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has been backed by cabinet colleagues and Members of Parliament in his attempt to win most number of seats and thus ensure smooth functioning of his government for the rest of its tenure.
Sources in the state unit of Congress said though Mr Siddaramaiah claimed his party would form the next government, the prospects of preventing the BJP from winning 8-10 seats are bleak because the ruling party has worked on caste combinations and addressed developmental issues besides promising a ministerial berth to each of the 15 disqualified legislators.
Cong-JD(S) deal uncertain
Sources said the party also was uncertain about re-establishing an alliance with JD (S) as former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy spoke of a ‘wait-and-watch’ policy hours after Mr Siddaramaiah’s claim of forming the next government. Interestingly, party patriarch H D Deve Gowda ruled out supporting the government of Mr Yediyurappa and even countered the previous statement of his son Mr Kumaraswamy about backing the BJP government, saying he was not aware of the context in which his son made such a statement.
Mr Gowda has kept his channel of communication open with Mrs Sonia Gandhi over the possibility of a post-poll alliance next month, pushing for D.K.Shivakumar over Siddaramaiah as the coalition leader.
