Bengaluru: The ruling Congress party is likely to pursue caste politics with vigour in the coming Assembly polls early next year as the BJP has worked it to its advantage in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

“Caste in electoral politics is a reality and has been at the centre of all elections since 2008. It was there in 2008 and 2013 and it will be there in 2018 polls too,” said senior Congress leader B.L. Shankar.





According to him, caste-based reservation will definitely play a part in the electoral battle. “It started during the tenure of former chief minister D. Devaraj Urs and has been continuing, barring the time when Mr Veerendra Patil and Mr S.M. Krishna were chief minister. During their term, the elections were fought on 'vikas'. The ongoing battle over the minority tag and separate religion tag for Lingayats is likely to be one of the important poll issues in the coming Assembly elections. It will have both positive and negative effects on all parties. The Lingayats may feel elated if they get their demand fulfilled and at the same time Veerashaivas may feel betrayed and vent out their anger for dividing the community that remained united for decades. This may also pave way for polarisation of castes in the state,” he said. Already, this polarisation in favour of the BJP has begun in Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts and one does not know where it will end.

He said that the Congress has an advantage of 35 per cent traditional votes, whereas the BJP and JD(S) have 30 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively. Any party that manages to garner 4-5 per cent additional votes will emerge victorious.

It is very difficult to predict where the 15 per cent 'undecided' votes go. It may be distributed among Congress, BJP and JD(S) too. The Congress has its presence in all districts, BJP in some districts and JD(S) in a few old Mysore districts, he said.

Differing with this view, a Congress leader from North Karnataka opined that upper caste voters are feeling rejected by the Siddaramaiah government as all benefits are restricted to 'Ahinda' voters.

Even distribution of benefits has been divided vertically, from school to jobs. The Veerashaivas and Lingayats are terribly upset with the way the chief minister has divided their community because of lack of vision of few leaders like Water Resources Minister M.B. Patil, Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil and Mines and Geology Minister Vinay Kulkarni, he said. While the Congress has identified itself with the cause of Lingayats, the BJP is yet to spell out its stand. “Our worry is about these voters who are in majority in the Mumbai-Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka region,” he said. He charged that Mr Siddaramaiah has his own agenda and is trying to seek a second term if the party fares well in the coming polls.

“The CM maintains that his ‘Ahinda’ image shows his intentions to keep the party’s traditional votes – Muslim, minorities and Dalits – and that he is not bothered about Vokkaliga, Lingayat and Brahmin voters. Unless Mr Siddaramaiah brings into action the concept of 'inclusive growth', it may be difficult for the Congress to get the majority to form its own government,” he warned.