BJP does it again!

The people of Karnataka have spoken and spoken full-size in favor of BJP, which has romped home with a simple majority (113 seats of 224). The reckless and childish (if I may say that) attitude of JD (secular) has made them pay dearly. Mr. Deva Gowda in spite of being a big time Vokkaliga leader botched to make any impact and has lost his face. Mr. Gowda’s policies of fielding his sons instead of big leaders like Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. M P Prakash has lead to this debacle.

Congress has improved its tally by about 6 votes, the wins primarily coming in from the southern part of Karnataka, but they have heavily lost from northern Karnataka region, which is generally considered the backward and tribal area and a strong hold of the Lingayat community. As per the latest reports the former Chief Minster Mr. Dharam Singh an ST candidate contesting from Jevargi has supposedly lost by 70 votes on a Congress ticket. Also some minority leaders like Mr. Meerajudhin Patel from Homnabad have bitten the dust.

BJP has completely routed JD(s) in particular with it getting 35 seats from the Bombay Karnataka region, which is up 11 seats from its previous tally. The Hyderabad Karnataka electorate has also voted in favor of the BJP, where it has secured close to 19 seats, which is up 7 seats. But the major gains has been made by in the southern areas of Karnataka wherein the BJP has won 37 seats, which is about 18 up from the last time. Southern Karnataka has been traditionally a Vokkaliga bastion, but they have gone ahead and voted for BJP and these seats have proved crucial in BJPs victory. Costal Karnataka is the only area which BJP has not been able to hold on to its previous count, where it has lost about 3 seats and reduced it tally to 21 MLAs. Surprisingly BJP has done well in the rural areas this time round, winning 81 out of the 173 seats contested. They have also won about 22 seats of the 36 SC seats they have contested. Traditionally BJP has done well in the urban areas, but the turnaround in the rural areas in Karnataka is quite significant and probably speaks of things to come for BJP. My personal opinion is because of RSS Swayamsevaks (volunteers) who have penetrated deep in to rural bastions and propagated the saffron cause.

Some importantly reasons why BJP won in Karnataka include the following

1) BJP had clearly identified a leader in Mr. B S Yediyurappa, a top Lingayat leader. Karnataka has a large section of the voting public being Lingayats. So the caste also played a significant role.

2) People were extremely tired of the coalition politics and voted for a single party. People were doubly tired of JD(s), which the media projected as betrayers and cheaters.

3) BJP wisely targeted Congress and stole away their votes in some areas by raising issues on price rise and terrorism.

4) Delimitation, which vouched for increasing the number of urban seats when compared to rural, could have had some significant impact.

Now, the people have clearly spoken, it is now for BJP to deliver. Karnataka needs serious attention please !

Why not India Votes 2008 ?

Well, it definitely is a valid query, given that NDA government had attempted something similar earlier, UPA must have ideally proponed the election to this year (2008). But somehow given the situation UPA feels it’s not ready yet.

There are several reasons indeed; the facts are for all to see. Firstly, there is no serious wave to really pounce upon and cache at this time. In fact, in India (except for West Bengal and Tamil Nadu) anti-incumbency plays a key role. But, off late even this has taken a serious beating. After the coalition mantra started post Congresses dismal performance in 1989, anti-incumbency has been overcome (at least to a certain extent) with unholy alliances with the so-called “common” manifesto.

Secondly, UPA is still grappling with the serious inflation dynamics. The prices of common commodities are soaring and not amount of policies are able to cull the inflation from touching an unprecedented rate of 8%! In fact I read today that the petroleum ministry is vouching for 10/- hike in petrol prices and 5/- for diesel. I am sure UPA will not agree to such a steep hike, but nevertheless it cannot run away from this problem, given that crude oil is trading at $135 a barrel.

Given these problems at hand, UPA would not want to commit suicide by attempting to pre-pone the general election.