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Karnataka state Congress chief confident of winning back his seat ‘hands down’
G Parameshwara said he was not able to go to the Koratagere constituency frequently due to which he lost in the 2013 elections but has made it up this time.
Standing on the pavement in Lingapura village in Koratagere with an arm propped on the shoulder of a supporter, state Congress chief G Parameshwara lists the work he has done for the constituency. At the end of his half-an-hour-long speech, many request him to visit their houses for tea or coffee. With a firm look, Parameshwara dismisses the idea because of a tight campaign schedule but appeals to the residents to vote for him as he had worked for them, learning from his mistakes.
The mistakes he was referring to dated back to the previous assembly election, when despite the Congress getting a majority, the Congress chief lost his seat. In fact, before that election in 2013, Congress leaders had said that if the party won there would be a toss-up between Parameshwara, a Dalit, and Siddaramaiah for the chief minister’s post. Eventually, because of Parameshwara’s loss, Siddaramaiah was elected by the legislature party.
This time around, Parameshwara is more confident, chastened as he was by Koratagere’s voters for apparently taking them for granted. “I will win hands down this time, there is no doubt about it,” he said. When asked about the reasons for his loss in the previous polls, he said he was not able to go to the constituency frequently. “But I’ve made it up this time and I will work for the constituency.” But voters in Koratagere have a different tale to tell about the 2013 elections. According to local political lore, it wasn’t Parameshwara’s inaccessibility that led to his downfall, it was the inner machinations of the Congress that did him in.
Such is the pervasiveness of this narrative that locals feel it is rooted in facts. “Kuruba voters definitely got a message from Siddaramaiah that if they voted for Parameshwara, the former wouldn’t become chief minister. About three days before the polls, all the local Kuruba leaders who had received party funds refused to spend it,” said Basavaraju, a Lingayat resident of Teeta village.
In the constituency, reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, people said while the Vokkaligas were strong supporters of the Janata Dal (Secular), whose candidate Sudhakar Lal won in 2013, the other castes banded together behind the Congress.
The choice of Lal, though, has itself been fraught for the voters of Koratagere, who feel this decision has cost them in terms of development. “As his party did not win last time there was little use of electing him, even though he is very close to people here and attends almost every function. If, for example, the local candidate becomes a minister then the developmental works undertaken will also be on a larger scale,” said Basavaraju.
However, with no clear trends in support of any party, Hanumanthappa, of Lingapura village, is in a dilemma. “We have a very difficult choice, do I want a legislator who is there at my beck and call or someone who has the ability to deliver on things here. Let’s face it, if Parameshwara wins and the Congress forms the government, he will be a very high-ranking minister. That can’t be said of Lal, I doubt he’ll be made a minister even if JD(S) comes to power.”
Local Congress leaders, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the party was a divided house last time, a fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) chief ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa has latched on to recently, hinting at the existence of three factions within the party of Siddaramaiah, Parameshwara and leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge.
“This time we are a more united group and there are no signs of internal politics,” a local Congress leader, who belongs to the Kuruba caste, said. “We will make sure he wins this time.”
A senior JD(S) leader also believed Congress leaders ultimately ensured Parameshwara’s defeat. No leaders from the BJP were available for a response. Basavaraju said the election was literally in the Congress’s hands.
