Bengaluru: Congress leaders strongly feel that the consolidation of the upper castes - Lingayats, Brahmins, Vokkaliga, Bunts and Gowda Saraswat Brahmins - in their respective regions in favour of the BJP, helped in a 'reverse consolidation' of the vote banks of backward classes like the Kurubas besides the Dalits and minorities in favour of the ruling Congress without the party making much of an effort.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader said that the Congress party did face huge resistance from upper castes in the state be it Lingayats, Brahmins, Vokkaligas, Bunts and Gowda Saraswat Brahmins as the 'need' to defeat the Congress was palpable among these communities. "As a result of this, the party had to focus on its core vote bank - Dalits, Minorities and Backward Classes. These communities too consolidated on their own sensing an upper caste consolidation and the Congress gave them the required push to come together," the source explained.
The source added that Congress leaders through Whatsapp groups, spread the speech clips of Union minister Mr Ananth Kumar Hegde who had spoken of amending the Constitution and had also targeted the minorities alleging that they were spreading terrorism in the country.
"We infiltrated many Dalit run groups instead of forming our own groups and spread these clippings. These video clips have helped us consolidate Dalits in big way in favour of the Congress party, at the same time it has brought the minorities closer to the Congress fold," the source claimed.
The source added that the same strategy was adopted in south Karnataka region too. "The party decided to launch a scathing attack on the JD(S) through none other than Congress president, Rahul Gandhi whose Sangh parivar jibe challenged JD(S) supremo Mr Deve Gowda to come clear on his party's stand on secularism. This helped us consolidate the Dalits and minorities in our party's favour.
We were expecting about 60 per cent consolidation in our favour but in the case of minorities it looks like it has gone up to 70 per cent. In the case of Dalits, the initial consolidation of 45 per cent votes has gone up to 60 per cent at the time of voting," the source argued.
