MLAs, ticket-aspirants flock to Ganesha pandals with an eye on upcoming polls

With Assembly elections close at hand, politicians are using the Ganesha pandals to make their presence felt in constituencies

With about eight months to go for the Assembly elections in Karnataka, politicians are making the best use of Ganesha festival celebrations to reach out to voters. People’s representatives, ticket aspirants, and their supporters are offering donations generously for community celebrations and also distributing gifts to different groups using the pandals.

After restrictions on public celebrations of the festival due to COVID-19 last two years, this time the number of Ganesha pandals in several towns has gone up. Every locality has at least three or four pandals each managed by a separate group. All prominent leaders of the BJP, the Congress, and the JD(S) are said to have offered donations to such groups. For example, in Hassan, many pandals are being identified with political parties, considering the prominent donors.

Supporters of Hassan MLA Preetham J. Gowda of the BJP distributed saris to hundreds of women to mark the Gowri festival. BJP members are actively involved in Panchajanya Hindu Ganapati Utsava being held for the first time on the premises of Hasanamba Kalakshetra, a government building. On the first day of the six-day event, Mr. Gowda felicitated municipal workers after washing their feet. Not to be left behind, Congress leader Banavase Rangaswamy, an aspirant for the party’s ticket for the coming election, washed the feet of municipal workers at another pandal near Hemavati Statue Circle. 

Leaders of the JD(S) too have offered donations to many groups to hold community celebrations. Bhavani Revanna, a former ZP member and wife of the former Minister H.D. Revanna, visited a few pandals. Her visits gave impetus to speculation that she would contest from Hassan seat in the coming election.

In Chitradurga district, leaders of the BJP and the Congress are said to have sponsored over 500 pandals in Chitradurga taluk alone. According to a Congress leader, politicians have donated at least ₹10,000 each to pandals. This is covert spending for elections in advance, he said.

Similarly, in northern Karnataka districts, most of the legislators are supporting Ganesha pandals in various ways. In some districts, leaders have borne the cost of the idols, the pandals or mass lunches. This trend is seen across parties. Congress leaders such as Ganesh Hukkeri and Lakshmi Hebbalkar have supported pandals in their constituency, their supporters say. But the most visible trend this year is the distribution of Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar’s images to Ganesh pandals by BJP leaders.

Abhay Patil, MLA, Belagavi South, said he deemed it his duty to support the pandals. “I am supporting the pandals since my days as a youth activist. I have also been actively involved in the installation of idols, organisation and the immersion procession,’’ he said.