Congress pushes dynasty candidate; will it work again?
Most of the Congress candidates contesting the Karnataka bypolls are from prominent political families. New talent is prominent by its absence in the five constituencies – Govindarajanagar, Chitapur, Ramnagaram, Kollegala and Channapatna – that are going to elections on August 18.
Of these five, two (Govindarajanagar and Channapatna) went vacant after Congress MLAs joined the BJP, while in Ramnagaram, Kollegal and Chitapur, sitting MLAs got elected to the Lok Sabha.
All three major political parties in the state – the BJP, Congress and JD(S) – will get another opportunity now to prove their mettle. Some senior Congress leaders of the state are confident that this time they have sufficient ammo to corner the BJP which rules the state.
The Congress that had crossed the halfway mark and the
JD(S) that had performed poorly are trying their best to improve their tallies. And to that effect, they are banking on dynasty. Some of Congress candidates were born into families that have been in politics for long. Priyank Kharge is the son of Union Minister S Mallikarjuna Kharge; Priya Krishnappa is son of Congress MLA, M Krishnappa and TK Yogeesh is son of former Congress MLA TM Krishnappa. None of them is a fresher or downwardly mobile. This time parties (particularly the Congress) have encouraged only those young leaders who are somebody’s close kin. It seems that the Congress perchance has taken the dynastic route to play it safe; although DK Shiva Kumar, KPCC working president, does say, “We are not for dynastic politics. The candidates who are contesting in the five constituencies are all party workers. We fielded them because they did good work for the party"
Although that claim might be true, it is also true that in today’s Karnataka, nothing counts more than one’s lineage. The entire political philosophy revolves around well-known families; and perhaps because voters over the years have tended to vote for the 'name' rather than the 'work'.
Irrespective of this, the by-election results would have no bearing on the stability of the BS Yeddyurappa government. In the 225-member Assembly, BJP has 114 members, the Congress 73, and independents have six; this apart from the five for which the by-polls are being held. As for the Congress and the JD(S), this is just the time for them to prove that their parties are still relevant in the state. Using dynasty candidates, can Congress impress voters as it did in last UP parliamentary polls? If one goes by the wide diversity of prepoll forecasts and the actual results in the UP elections, one can only say that there is perhaps no foolproof way of knowing the result till, well, the result.
Most of the Congress candidates contesting the Karnataka bypolls are from prominent political families. New talent is prominent by its absence in the five constituencies – Govindarajanagar, Chitapur, Ramnagaram, Kollegala and Channapatna – that are going to elections on August 18.
Of these five, two (Govindarajanagar and Channapatna) went vacant after Congress MLAs joined the BJP, while in Ramnagaram, Kollegal and Chitapur, sitting MLAs got elected to the Lok Sabha.
All three major political parties in the state – the BJP, Congress and JD(S) – will get another opportunity now to prove their mettle. Some senior Congress leaders of the state are confident that this time they have sufficient ammo to corner the BJP which rules the state.
The Congress that had crossed the halfway mark and the
JD(S) that had performed poorly are trying their best to improve their tallies. And to that effect, they are banking on dynasty. Some of Congress candidates were born into families that have been in politics for long. Priyank Kharge is the son of Union Minister S Mallikarjuna Kharge; Priya Krishnappa is son of Congress MLA, M Krishnappa and TK Yogeesh is son of former Congress MLA TM Krishnappa. None of them is a fresher or downwardly mobile. This time parties (particularly the Congress) have encouraged only those young leaders who are somebody’s close kin. It seems that the Congress perchance has taken the dynastic route to play it safe; although DK Shiva Kumar, KPCC working president, does say, “We are not for dynastic politics. The candidates who are contesting in the five constituencies are all party workers. We fielded them because they did good work for the party"Although that claim might be true, it is also true that in today’s Karnataka, nothing counts more than one’s lineage. The entire political philosophy revolves around well-known families; and perhaps because voters over the years have tended to vote for the 'name' rather than the 'work'.
Irrespective of this, the by-election results would have no bearing on the stability of the BS Yeddyurappa government. In the 225-member Assembly, BJP has 114 members, the Congress 73, and independents have six; this apart from the five for which the by-polls are being held. As for the Congress and the JD(S), this is just the time for them to prove that their parties are still relevant in the state. Using dynasty candidates, can Congress impress voters as it did in last UP parliamentary polls? If one goes by the wide diversity of prepoll forecasts and the actual results in the UP elections, one can only say that there is perhaps no foolproof way of knowing the result till, well, the result.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
