BENGALURU: Wresting energy from the BJP will likely be a morale booster for the Congress, key for reviving its electoral fortunes and strengthen its credentials as the primary opposition participant towards the saffron social gathering, forward of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. By making certain a win in Karnataka, the social gathering additionally desires to bounce again after the latest losses within the North-Eastern states and provides it a momentum of types to tackle the battle-ready election equipment of the BJP, later this yr within the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
The Congress by-and-large centered on native points and its marketing campaign additionally was run by its state leaders initially. However, its central leaders comparable to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra pitched in subsequently. This ballot can be a status battle in a means for the grand outdated social gathering with a Kannadiga Mallikarjun Kharge, who hails from Kalaburagi district, at its helm, because the nationwide president.
The Congress that entered the marketing campaign with the problem of holding at bay factionalism, particularly between the camps of its two Chief Ministerial aspirants — Siddaramaiah and D Ok Shivakumar — who have been usually seen to be participating in political one-upmanship, it someway managed to place an united entrance and ensured that no rift got here out in open and derail its prospects.
Though the marketing campaign initially centered round its state leaders like Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, Kharge gave it momentum and thereby ready the pitch for the social gathering’s high leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi to hitch in. The brother-sister duo extensively travelled throughout the state, difficult the BJP’s marketing campaign equipment led by Modi, countering and difficult him on varied points, most significantly on the problem of corruption, whereas promising to offer a greater different for Karnataka. Their mom and former AICC president Sonia Gandhi addressed a celebration rally in Hubballi on Saturday.
The social gathering held 99 public conferences and 33 roadshows by its high state and central leaders. The Congress has set a goal of successful 150 seats, and has been urging voters to make sure that it will get an absolute majority, in order that BJP does not “steal” the mandate by managing defections of different social gathering legislators and “manufacture” a majority in its favour. The Congress’s essential points to assault the BJP authorities on this election was over corruption/ scams and the cost of 40 per cent fee, coupled with the Adani concern.
While extensively highlighting its 5 key ballot ‘ensures’, the social gathering tried to tell the folks about its cost towards the BJP authorities of getting “failed in fulfilling 90 per cent of its promises” made in its 2018 manifesto. The Congress’ has promised to implement ‘ensures’ – 200 items of free energy to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 month-to-month help to the lady head of each household (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to each member of a BPL family (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 each month for graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders (each within the age group of 18-25) for 2 years (YuvaNidhi), and free journey for ladies in public transport buses (Shakti), on the very first day, on coming to energy within the state.
At a time when it appeared like all was going effectively, the Congress itself waded into controversies with Siddaramaiah’s assertion that “there’s already a Lingayat CM who is the most corrupt,” which the BJP became an “insult” to your entire Lingayat group. Mallikarjun Kharge’s “venomous snake” barb at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after which his son and Chittapur MLA Priyank Kharge ‘nalayak beta’ (incompetent son) comment towards him, created a flutter in political circles, eliciting sharp reactions from the BJP.
Amid these back-to-back controversies, the Congress manifesto proposing to banning the Bajrang Dal precipitated some nervousness because it threatened to harm the optics, as BJP and PM Modi aggressively picked up the problem to painting the grand outdated social gathering as being towards Lord Hanuman and the feelings of Hindus.
