The Hindu : Karnataka News : Congress upbeat with people’s response to Janandolana

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Karnataka

Karnataka

Congress upbeat with people’s response to Janandolana

T.S. Ranganna

It is to highlight the mistakes of the JD(S)-BJP Government

From February 25, the meetings will be held in 175 taluks
Six teams of senior party leaders to be constituted

BANGALORE: The Congress, which is completing its first round of Janandolana, a State-wide mass contact programme, on February 24, is upbeat with the overwhelming response of the people to the meetings highlighting the mistakes of the Janata Dal (S)-Bharatiya Janata Party Government.

Speaking to The Hindu, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary and MLC V.S. Ugrappa and M.R. Seetaram, former MLA and in-charge of the party in Haveri district, said that thousands of people were coming to the meetings addressed by senior leaders such as KPCC president M. Mallikarjun Kharge.

They said that Janandolana meetings would be held at Chikballapur on February 15, Mandya on February 19, Mysore on February 23 and would culminate at Ramanagaram on February 24.

Having successfully held the district-level campaign, the party sources said that it would now concentrate on taluk-level meetings.

Starting from Hosadurga in Chitradurga district on February 25, this programme will be held in all the 175 taluk headquarters. They meetings will be addressed by senior leaders in the respective divisions.

Mr. Kharge will constitute six teams consisting of top leaders to address the meetings there. Congress leaders believe that the induction of Janata Dal (S) leaders into the party will help it party further consolidate its base among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and minorities, according to sources.

The first sign that the backward class vote is coming to the Congress was the success of the Congress candidate and former Deputy Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the by-election in Chamundeshwari constituency.

The party’s strategists are of the view that if a sizeable section of Dalit, tribal, backward classes and minority votes can be drawn towards the party, its chances of coming to power are strong. After all, in the 2004 Assembly elections, the Congress registered 35.46 per cent of the votes polled winning 65 seats out of 224 constituencies.

The party candidates lost their deposits in six constituencies. The BJP and Janata Dal (S) contested 189 and 221 seats and won 79 and 58 seats respectively, getting 28 and 20 per cent of the votes. Candidates from these two parties lost deposits in 46 and 96 constituencies, they said.

By raising the numbers of Other Backward Classes and minority candidates, the Congress could easily improve its chances, the party reckons. The party hopes that the induction of Lingayat leaders such as Vaijnath Patil, B.R. Patil and M.P. Prakash will help it to attract the Lingayat vote.

The sources are hopeful that the former Union Minister, C.M. Ibrahim, would soon join the party. The Congress is gearing up to cash in on caste and community sentiment by fielding tall leaders from each of these groups, Mr. Kharge (Dalit), Mr. Siddaramaiah (OBC), R.V. Deshpande (forward caste), Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ambareesh (Vokkaliga) and A.B. Patil (Lingayat).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka