Karnataka Assembly elections | Southern Karnataka emerges as crucial battleground for all three parties

Karnataka Assembly elections | Southern Karnataka emerges as crucial battleground for all three parties

The southern Karnataka districts of the Old Mysore region have come under sharp focus in the run-up to the Assembly election, with the BJP upping the ante for a share in the electoral pie that has, so far, largely been shared by the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress.

Stretching from Chamarajanagar, at the southern-most tip of the State, to the Bengaluru Rural district — through the Cauvery heartland of the Mysuru, Mandya and Ramanagaram districts, besides Hassan, Kolar, Chikkaballapur and Tumkur — the region comprises not only the core of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda’s support base, but also the strongholds of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D.K. Shivakumar in Mysuru and Kanakapura, respectively.

Even though the appeal of the JD(S) has remained limited in the rest of the State over the last few elections, the southern Karnataka districts dominated by Vokkaligas, a land-owning agrarian community, have stood firmly by the party, now helmed by Mr. Gowda’s son and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. The region has accounted for a lion’s share of the Assembly seats won by the party since the 2008 Assembly election.

However, the appointment of Mr. Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga, as the KPCC chief and his aspiration to occupy the Chief Minister’s post is expected to pose a threat to the hold of the JD(S) in parts of the region.

While the JD(S) and the Congress have been sharing the electoral spoils in the region in successive elections, the BJP has come to realise that its failure to cobble up a majority in the Assembly corresponds to the party’s inability to win enough seats in southern Karnataka.

Though the BJP has emerged as the single largest party in the State thrice – in 2004, 2008 and 2018 – it has fallen short of the numbers required to secure a majority in the Assembly. In 2008 and 2019, the party could form the government only by engineering defections from rival parties through Operation Kamala.

Hence, the saffron party, which has set its eyes on making inroads in the region, has already organised campaign appearances, not only by Home Minister Amit Shah, but also Prime Minister Narendra Modi who came to inaugurate the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway in Mandya. Earlier this week, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath began his Karnataka campaign again from Mandya.