Will JDS play spoilsport for two national parties like last time when BJP fell short by a whisker and Congress put up a poor show as 17 Cabinet ministers lost out?
BENGALURU: The election weather is heating up in Karnataka even before the Election Commission of India makes the big announcement of dates. Close on the heels of Sankalp Yatra of BJP, Praja Dwani of Congress, the JDS which is fighting for survival is now all set to unleash former Prime Minister on a 100-km open vehicle yatra to conclude his son and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s Pancharatna yatra.
The nonagenarian will traverse through the heart of the Cauvery delta region between Kumalagod in Bengaluru to Mysore on 26 March. Interestingly, this rally is being held just a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to address the mother of all rallies in Davangere, which is centrally located in the state. It will be the culmination of Sankalp Yatra which has been kicked off from four different directions of the state–MM Hills in South East; Devanahalli on South West; Belgaum in North West and Basava Kalyan in North East.
It is imperative to note here that the JDS has strategically planned this yatra in the Vokkaliga heartland as the party garners maximum number of seats in the districts of Ramanagara, Mandya and Mysore which fall in the vicinity of this highway. In Mandya the party scored seven out seven last time but since then it has lost the Lok Sabha elections when HDK’s son Nikhil contested a pitched battle against Sumalatha Ambarish and then lost by-elections in KR Pet as BJP opened its account in the district,
Speaking exclusively to The Sunday Guardian, H.D. Kumaraswamy said: “This is the conclusion of Pancharatna Rath Yatra. I have toured the length and breadth of state in the last 50 days. Pancharatna is basically our five priority areas–irrigation and farmer issues; job creation for youth and women empowerment; health; housing and education. It will be a massive convention of ten lakh people all along 100 kms as Deve Gowda will go on a procession in an open vehicle. This will be an outstanding convention in the history of my political life,’’ he said, adding that it will be a convention like no one has done so far.
It might be recalled here that Mandya is the epicentre of Cauvery agitation and this time around, the Congress under another Vokkaliga leader D.K. Shivakumar as president is hoping to revive the party which was earlier in its stronghold. In all there are over 65 seats up for grabs in the Old Mysore region where the battle is mainly between JDS and Congress.