As the heat is on for the crucial Assembly polls just away in nine months, all the three political parties, Ruling Congress, BJP and JDs have started their poll preparedness to fight the battle. For ruling Congress, Karnataka is crucial to keep its national identity and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is at the helm of affairs taking control of the party. After its national president Amit Shah’s visit has steered the BJP and State leaders gearing up to fight the decisive battle to make Karnataka Congress mukth.
The BJP is also counting on mission 150 to decimate the century old party which is facing anti-incumbency. The JDs quietly concentrating on the vokkaliga heartland to be the king maker in case of a hung Assembly.
Ruling Congress led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the major Opposition BJP controlled by lingayat strongman BS Yeddyurappa and JDs powered by former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and his son HD Kumaraswamy have already started playing their cards to vie the voters.
Meanwhile, in this background, a pre-poll survey conducted by C fore on the prospects of the three big parties in Karnataka gave Congress the edge, predicting the ruling party will bag 120-132 of the 224 seats. The present strength of Congress in the Assembly is 122.
According to the survey posted on the website of C fore said the survey was conducted between July 19 and August 10, says BJP, which now has 44 members, will get 60 to 72 seats. JD(S), which currently has 32 seats, is likely to secure 24 to 30 seats, while Independents are likely to win one-to-six seats, it adds.
The Congress can easily win garnering 43 per cent vote or winning 120-132 seats with the BJP trailing at 32 per cent share or winning 60-72, the survey said. This has given a boost to the Congress ahead of elections and Siddaramaiah hailed this as “peoples’ mind”.
As the Opposition BJP questioned the survey and its timings, Siddaramaiah said “BJP afraid of getting dismal numbers, is talking of Congress having sponsored the survey. It encapsulates all our populist schemes and results. We don’t have any link with the survey; it was conducted by a private agency.”
BJP spokesperson S Suresh Kumar ridiculed the survey and its timings. He said “The release of this “paid” survey, its timing and reasons, is very suspicious. According to our information, the survey was released by the media wing of the CM’s office.” The social media is also busy debating this pro and against the survey.
The actual polls are still nine months away and the survey reflects current mood of the people the Congress said. The poll was conducted between July 19 and August 10 across 165 constituencies. Nearly 24,679 voters were interviewed in 340 urban and 550 rural locations.
In 2013 polls, BJP had won around 40 seats, but Siddaramaiah helped congress to sweep the polls by winning 122 seats. The state has seen shift in power from Congress-JD(S) coalition to BJP-JD(S) coalition since 2004.
Besides Coastal Karnataka and Bombay Karnataka — where BJP will get majority — Congress is likely to win with majority in other areas including capital city Bengaluru, according to the C fore survey.