Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 07 May 2018 | Page 34

BITTER RIVALS
Provoked By
The Protege
Siddaramaiah’s sustained attacks have led the JD(S)
to retaliate, says Deve Gowda in the run-up to polls
by Ajay Sukumaran in Bangalore
if he’s really an AHINDA leader?” Gowda
says with a smirk. That is a taunt at his
S dusk sets in, a small group of one-time protégé who believes his sup-
MLA-hopefuls from the Janata port base are the minorities, backward
Dal (Secular) waits patiently in classes and Dalits—or AHINDA, as this
the entrance hall at boss H.D. acronym means in Kannada. Of course,
Deve Gowda’s residence in Ban- Siddaramaiah is moving back to Cha-
galore. They have to collect mundeshwari after a gap of two terms
their ‘B forms’—that’s the nomination because his son Yathindra has taken his
paper. Tradition has it that the docu- place in the Varuna seat next door. The
ment, after being blessed at a temple, BJP, too, is trying to pin down the duo in
will be handed over to them personally their constituencies.
The fight, at one level, appears personal
by the party patriarch.
Two floors up the wood-panelled spiral between Gowda and Siddaramaiah. Even
staircase, 85-year-old Gowda sits on a Congress national president Rahul Gan-
chair in his bedroom, opposite a coffee dhi, says Gowda, was advised to ease up
table with a buzzer close at hand. There’s on the JD(S) after calling it the B-team of
a Kannada news channel playing on low the BJP. “But Siddaramaiah went on att­
volume on the television, as partymen acking,” says Gowda. “That has irritated
and visitors are let in one by one. “Today, me. Otherwise why should I bother, I
if I go to bed early, that’s my good fortune,” could have ignored him.”
The JD(S) knows that any tough contest
says the veteran who’s keeping everybody
guessing in an assembly election where with it in the fray will benefit the BJP,
which acknowledges it. “The presence of
the signs haven’t been easy to read.
The JD(S) isn’t making things any eas- JD(S) is always advantageous to us,” a BJP
ier. Even if it is, the 1999-founded party is spokesman tells Outlook. “It’s more of a
a shadow of what it once was, observers Congress vote that generally goes to the
reckon. In southern Karnataka’s Old JD(S); they have never been a direct rival
Mysore region, the BJP hasn’t been able to us, anywhere, anytime.” Gowda, obser­
to drill roots, but the JD(S) is still a strong vers say, is counting on neither party get-
presence as the prime opposition to the ting a clear majority, which would put the
ruling Congress. So much so, even chief JD(S) back in the reckoning for a coali-
minister Siddaramaiah cannot take his tion—it had happened in 2004.
However, he insists the JD(S) is equidis-
own asse­mbly seat in Chamundeshwari
for gran­ted. Gowda’s Vokkaliga commu- tant from the two bigger parties “to pro-
nity, the state’s sec ond-largest caste tect our secular credentials”. Gowda
points to his alliance with
group, has a say in many
the Bahujan Samaj Party
of the seats in this region,
for 20 seats and the sup-
just as the Lingayats do
JD(S) knows
port promised by AIMIM
in north Karnataka.
that any tough
head Asaduddin Owaisi
But what is the strength
contest with
and Telangana chief
of the JD(S) in Mysore
minister K. Chandrashe­
city’s Chamundeshwari
Congress will
khar Rao. Siddaramaiah,
seat where Siddaramaiah
benefit BJP.
not one to let slip an
is the candidate? “Well,
The saffron
opp­
ortunity to annoy
there are 40,000 Vokkali-
party doesn’t
riv­als, says any ‘strategy’
gas out of (an electorate)
deny it either.
towards a coalition bet­
of 2.30 lakh. What is that,
A
34 OUTLOOK 7 May 2018
ween the BJP and JD(S) is mere illusion.
At Chamundeshwari, earlier this month,
he ruffled feathers further, telling voters
that the JD(S) won’t win more than 25
seats in the 224-member assembly. But
after second thoughts, the CM is now also
contesting from a second seat—in Badami,
considered safer because his community,
Kuruba, are in greater number there.
“Where’s the need to go to Badami and
contest,” asks Gowda, claiming there’s
anger against Siddaramaiah because he
has sidelined other communities. “See, a
caste enumeration was made,” notes
Gowda. “Why has he not released it?
More than 70 per cent of the people under
the 2A (reservation category) are from his
community.” Siddaramaiah points to his
welfare schemes like foodgrain distribu-
tion and free education that have benefi­
ted the poor from every community.
The bitterness between Gowda and
Siddaramaiah, 68, traces back to 2005
when the latter, then deputy CM, was