There is no bigger gamble that elections and karnataka is in the thick of it.The insiders become the outsiders and thenew comers are favoured over trusted servants of the party with long standing record.Change is the universal law and one cannot dispute this hard reality. Yet it is so very difficult for veterans to live with rejection.So party hopping is the name of the game. The rejected candidates stand as independents and in case they get elected, their support will be extended to whoever claims their fancy. In an already uncertain atmosphere thjis is a new complication. But it needs lot of popularity for the candidate to win on his own.This is consolation enough.
The campaigning in theelection is ata low key because the election commission haS IMPOSED SOME RESTRICTIONS.The promotion effort has to be personalised. gone are the days when huge buntings and banners would adorn the streets. There is constant vigil on liquor gifts and other largesse doled out to the people. But some candidates have found ingenious ways . True clothes andsarees can’t be distributed. Coupons could be the substitute. So the beneficiary goes to the particular shop and collects the gift.As the campaingning goes into hiogher gear, more such tricks would be employed.
Of course nothing prevents a voter from accepting goodies from one person and voting for the next. the truth is that voters are far more mature than the candidates.
Karnataka’s erxperience with coalition government is not pleasant. the alliance for a cause and a common minimum programme degenerates to the level of personality cult and complications arising from ego clashes of leaders. The losers are the people .The way out is a single party government.More importantly, the tail, that is the party with a few seats, should not be allowed to play mischief.
Karnataka has been a tendsetter where politics is concerned. It was in Bangalore that the great split of the congress occured. That was in 1969.Again in 1975 the city played a notable party. The internal emergency was imposed and many oppositon leaders , especially of the erstwhile Jana sangh,. the predecessor to the present Bharatiya Janata party were held in Bangalore. the jail, like the jails of old, provided room for the leaders to introspect and devise ways to end the hegemony of the congress party. Things havenever been the same.
Will the present election prove to be a trendsetter, especially by providing entry point for theBahujan samaj party whose leader is making waves in Uttar pradesh?