Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi visits have all the ingredients of poll campaign

Bengaluru: The visits of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the same time this week have signalled in a way the launch of electioneering for the Assembly elections coming up in May 2023. Both of them have given a clear message to their party colleagues in Karnataka that they should increase their sttrength in the Assembly and later in the Legislative Council.

Though they both took the opportunity of participating in the 115th birth anniversary of the late Dr Shivmurthy Shivacharya of Siddaganga Mutt in Tumukuru district, they were quick to huddle with the captains of their respective parties in the State capital Bengaluru. Going by their advice to the party leaders, both Shah and Rahul were going for the kill in the State.

Shah spared no words to chide his party leaders in the core committee. He indicated through his words that there was an opportunity for the BJP to become unchallenged in the State legislative bodies. The magic figure of 150 in the State Assembly for the party is there for BJP for the asking, but for Malnad and the old Mysuru region where over 45 potential seats had not gone BJP way in 2017. He is definitely eyeing these seats. Political pundits in Karnataka indicate that Shah was fed up with last-minute adjustments where MLAs have to be poached to save the government. Karnataka is the only State in the south where BJP can hold power- Tamil Nadu and Kerala being a far cry for the party in the present context. He was not comfortable with such adjustments as it does not augur well with the party's ideology - majoritarianism. The core committee members who attended the meeting believed that Shah will not tolerate the 'politics of adjustments', especially when India has risen in the world as one of the leading geopolitical power under Modi. This factor has to be taken to the voters and 'transforming' right-thinking minds in other parties was the clear message.

Rahul's meet

Rahul Gandhi's visit comes as the State grapples with issues such as the hijab, ban on non-Hindu traders conducting business inside temple grounds, and the halal meat. His visit was widely seen as the beginning of the Karnataka Congress's campaign for the 2023 Assembly elections. During his speech at the party meeting, Rahul Gandhi did not miss the opportunity to call the BJP government in Karnataka 'the most corrupt State in the country' and refer to the "40 per cent commission minister", an allegation made by contractors. "The BJP's goal is to make money from the poor and give it to the wealthy. They want to split the country while the Congress wants to address serious concerns such as economy crisis and unemployment. We want to bring the country together. For the future elections, Congress needs to focus on young men and women," he said.