Winter Session: BJP, JD(S) have daggers out, but will bypoll victories prove a shield for Congress?

Winter Session of Karnataka legislature in Belagavi sees Congress confidence, BJP factional fight, and issues like corruption and wakf properties.

The two-week Winter Session of the Karnataka legislature will commence in Belagavi from Monday at a time when the ruling Congress continues to face the Opposition’s narrative of “development being compromised to fund the guarantee schemes” and the waqf land issue, while the BJP’s factional fight is out in the open again.

Though the BJP and its ally Janata Dal (Secular) are expected to attack the government over a range of issues, the Congress is arriving in Belagavi with greater confidence, in the light of its sweep of all three Assembly constituencies — Channapatna, Sandur and Shiggaon — in the byelections recently. Of the three, the Congress, the BJP, and the JD(S) had held one seat each earlier.

The BJP, on the other hand, is currently a divided house and its capacity to corner the ruling party on the floor of the House will be keenly watched in this context. The leadership in the saffron party will be tested by political veterans in the treasury benches.

While a section of the Congress that is close to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is reading the byelection victory as the people’s mandate against the “fake” corruption narrative set against him, the issue of alleged irregularities in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) in allotting 14 sites to his wife is expected to feature in the discussions in the legislature prominently, besides other alleged corruption issues.

The biggest face-off expected in the session will be on the wakf properties, despite the government withdrawing notices to farmers and directing the bureaucracy not to issue any fresh notice to remove encroachment of wakf properties in the State. The BJP has been steadfast in its criticism of the government and is particularly portraying the Chief Minister to be “favouring the minority community”. The death of five young mothers in the district hospital in Ballari days before the start of the session will also add to the BJP’s arsenal.

The ability of the saffron party to remain united in the House and achieve greater coordination internally as well as with the JD(S) will also be watched. BJP State unit president B.Y. Vijayendra is under pressure from the group headed by Vijayapura legislator Basanagouda R. Patil Yatnal that is seeking his ouster. The internal bickering, now in the open, has not only embarrassed the party but has also exposed deep fissures, which the Congress is expected to harness to its benefit.

However, despite putting up a united face and fight in the election, the Congress too does not seem to be an entirely united house either. Many in the Chief Minister’s camp are unhappy since what was to be a show of strength in the Hassan rally to reiterate Mr. Siddaramaiah’s leadership of OBCs turned out to be a party rally with Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar taking over the leadership. Public conversations over the change in leadership by rotation and on withdrawal of the guarantees by Congress leaders have also shown the party in a poor light, and all these are likely to be used by the BJP as fodder in its attack on the government.