Karnataka & Kerala: Close contest between BJP and Congress in these two states

Karnataka & Kerala: Close contest between BJP and Congress in these two states

With the completion of the first phase of voting in Tamil Nadu, the focus has now shifted to neighboring states Kerala and Karnataka. Voting is going to be held in these two states on April 26th. Elections will be held on all 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala, while in Karnataka, half, i.e., 14 seats will be voted in the second phase, and the remaining 14 seats will be voted in the third phase.

The elections in these two states are special for the Bharatiya Janata Party for two reasons: one is to realize its long-cherished dream of making a dream come true and the second one is to regain Karnataka, where it had won 25 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. It is necessary for them to realize the BJP’s claims of winning 370 seats on its own and more than 400 seats with its alliance partners.

Read also: PM Modi in Rajasthan: Congress will divide the country’s wealth among infiltrators

The BJP’s election campaign under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a direct appeal to the voters with the promise that he will free both the states of corrupt politicians and take the state to a shining ‘New India’. On the other hand, the opposition is relying on more fundamental issues of protecting the democratic constitution and its federal structure.

He also complains that the Central Government treats them unfairly during money transfer. Since both states are highly literate, the Prime Minister is more liberal in his public addresses there, which does not lag behind when it comes to political attacks on Chief Ministers like Pinarayi Vijayan or Siddaramaiah.

The story of Kerala in 2024 is a bit different as compared to the year 2019, as Congress led UDF and CPM led Left Front are face to-toe on most of the seats. The BJP leading the NDANDA, keen to make the contest triangular in at least a few select constituencies. UDF and LDF had each other’s representatives at the party workers’ level in 2019, hence in 2024, top Left Front leaders Pinarayi Vijayan and Rahul Gandhi are pitted against each other.

This change is mainly due to the Left Front’s decision to field prominent CPI leader Aniraja against Rahul Gandhi in Wayanad. Leftists in Kerala have been accusing Rahul Gandhi that he is scared of BJP the BJP hence is trying to hide in relatively safe Kerala. The Left leaders’ campaign became more heated when Pinarayi started indirectly calling Rahul Gandhi ‘Amul Baby’.

Till now, Rahul has avoided direct attacksk against Pinarayi, but this time he alleged that despite the complaint of corruption, Narendra Modi has not sent ED against Pinarayi to Keralite has been sent against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren. Pinarayi also hit back saying that political imprisonment is not new to him, even his grandmother Indira Gandhi, put him in jail during the Emergency.

Prime Minister Modi has also added insult to injury by saying that Congress’ successors will soon run away from Wayanad too, like they did from Amethi. He wondered how anyone could think of electing those constituents of the ‘India Bloc’ who were fighting so openly among the public.

However, the tussle between Congress and the Left is understandable. The Left Front wants to continue its victory campaign after winning the assembly elections, while the Congress wants to repeat the performance of 2019. Congress had won 19 out of twenty Lok Sabha seats in Kerala in 2019. However, neither the Congress nor the Left Front wants want BJP to gain a foothold in Kerala.

It remains to be seen whether his strategy is successful or not. BJP’s strategy in Kerala is focused on a few seats seats, Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur, where it has hope. It has fielded Congress candidate Union Minister Rajiv Chandrashekhar against Congress’s Surendra.

As far as Karnataka is concerned, BJP wants to repeat its 2019 performance here, but it had to face a big defeat in the last assembly elections. However, Yadurappa has been rehabilitated and ,son has been appointed the state BJP chief and the party has also entered into an alliance with JD(S).

On the other hand, there are some things in Karnataka which seem to be in favor of the ruling Congress. One, Mus who constitute 15% of the population, have decided to vote for secular parties. According to unanimous opinion, out of the total votes received by Congress in the assembly elections, about 30 percent votes were of Muslims. Secondly, the Dalits of the state, who constitute 18%, are also supporting the Congress on a large scale.

Lingayats have mainly been staunch BJP supporters. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has made efforts to attract this community. Another major caste is supporting Vokkaliga, who is their eldest leader. But Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar is also a Vokkaliga leader, Deve Gowda’s grandson Prajjwal is campaigning vigorously in Mysore to defeat Revanna.

Read more: State-wise Lok Sabha seats for General Elections 2024