Florine Roche
Mangaluru, Aug 6: The Karnataka State Election Commission has announced the poll date for 105 of the 208 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the state, which is scheduled to be held on August 29. Elections to the remaining 103 ULBs will be held once their term is complete. These elections will pose the biggest challenge for Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the state since they came together to form the coalition government after the May 2018 Assembly elections.
The elections to the ULBs have come at a time when the ruling coalition is dogged by repeated controversies and is going through a tumultuous phase raising doubts about the longevity of the alliance government. The longevity factor comes from none other than former chief minister Siddaramaiah who also heads the coalition committee of Congress-JD(S) alliance government. A few days ago a video clip wherein Siddaramaiah purportedly expressed doubts over the survival of the present government beyond the 2019 general elections, went viral much to the chagrin of the coalition partners.
Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy
As a quick riposte and to allay all doubts Kumaraswamy has put the onus on gods saying “gods will decide how many days I will stay as the chief Minister”. As journalist M J Akbar pointed out ‘when a coalition chief minister makes god as referee you know that the trouble has gone beyond human repair’. That all is not too well within the alliance is evident from the recent incident where Kumaraswamy shed tears during a public function saying “I am not happy, I am swallowing pain like Lord Shiva who drank poison”.
Whether the gods or the Congress decide his fate will be known either after the 2019 general elections or much before that. It depends on the mood of the alliance partner – the Congress, which in itself is going through a turbulent phase not knowing how to come out unscathed from the present fiasco it finds itself in. Keeping the BJP out of power is the only common factor that stitched the alliance between these two parties which fought bitterly against each other during the Assembly elections. They came together to keep the BJP out of power and that seems to the one and only agenda that binds both the parties. Now they are faced with the after effect of their ‘marriage of convenience’.
Within a few days from now these coalition partners have to face the acid test of ULB elections in the state, which is not going to be easy considering the skirmishes the party cadres are facing. Both the Congress and JD (S) leadership expressing their desire to go it alone in the ULB elections, a move which has not gone well with the grass root cadres.
It has to be remembered that the dynamics of local politics is different from state politics because local elections provide a suitable platform to groom local leaders and to satisfy their political ambitions. Naturally seat sharing agreement would jeopardize the ambitions of many local aspirants of both the parties which might lead to rebellion and dissentions.
Even Siddaramaiah is said to be favoring the idea of going it alone in the ULBs to avoid confusion and chaos at the local level. He is said to be of the view that going alone would strengthen the Congress party at the lower level.
Confusion, no doubt will prevail because both the alliance partners have announced pre-poll alliance for the impending Lok Sabha elections 2019 to fight their common enemy – the BJP. They will have to find a strategy to deal with the present challenge as the alliance partners cannot afford ULB elections to have an impact on the upcoming 2019 general elections. At the same time both the parties cannot afford to upset its local leaders and grass root workers that form the real strength for any political party.
On other hand, it is believed that the Congress high command favours having an alliance with the JD(S) for ULBs in certain areas where the BJP has a strong presence. The central Congress leadership wants to uproot the BJP at the grass root and this, the party feels is possible only by forging an alliance with the JD (S). The central leadership of the Congress is said to have sent a clear directive to the state leaders to stymie the growth of the BJP at the grass root. However, it must be remembered that it is not going to be easy as the BJP has strong and committed cadres at the grassroots.
Faced with such uncertainties the grass root cadre of both the parties is in disarray not knowing how to handle the present situation. Either way it is going to be a difficult situation and the ULB elections will provide the real acid test for the coalition government’s health.