Setback After Lok Sabha Poll Debacle in Karnataka | J P Gadkari

With the resignation of a Cabinet Minister Nagendra for his alleged involvement in Scheduled Tribe Welfare Ministry scam involving siphoning off crores of rupees, the Congress Govt in Karnataka has suffered another setback after its recent poll debacle in L S polls in the State.The Congress High Command has already taken a poor view of the dismal performance of the party in the State and is likely to initiate stringent action against those who worked against the party candidates, would like to have thorough inquiry into the alleged scam.

The party has also suffered another setback by not winning the three seats each in Graduate and Teachers constituencies where the BJP-JDs combination has made a headway in the State Legislative Council.

The Congress which had predicted to win about 15 to 20 seats out of total of 28 could not even reach a double digit by winning only 9 seats. Though this result is nine times better than in 2019, when the Congress had only got one seat, many in the party had expected much better results, atleast the party reaching a respectable figure of 15 seats. Those who are blaming the leadership now say that this dismal performance was due to the "overconfidence" on the part of the leadership which resulted in not conducting a vigorous campaign in number of constituencies, particularly, Bangalore City constituencies where the party suffered a total rout. Among the four City constituencies the party had nominated a member of minority community for the first time who lost with a slender margin of 32,000 and odd votes. The critics of party say that this is a typical example of lack of more vigorous campaign on the part of the party.

The party had focussed its campaign mainly on full implementation of its guarantees and Centre’s step-motherly treatment to it on the question of devolution of funds from the taxes collected from the State, delay in releasing the drought relief funds and refusal to sale rice from FCI for fulfilling its ’Annabhagya’ scheme. But the critics also felt that besides all these points, the party failed to expose the BJP Govt’s dictatorial policies, its intentions to change the Constitution and posing danger to democracy.

The change in the State party leadership is due and many are there in the fray to replace the present leadership. The High Command is likely to intervene effectively to bring about a smooth change in the situation.

June 7, 2024