Telugu voters, a major force in Karnataka polls

Major political parties are trying to woo various segments of voters in Karnataka as the Assembly elections draw near. The Karnataka mandate has always been more complicated due to the caste and cultural equations, religious issues and governance factor. But will the Telugus be able to influence the outcome of Karnataka due to their considerable numbers this time?

Social engineering is not an easy math in Karnataka and the BJP is said to be eyeing the Telugu voters due to their significant numbers in the State.

A significant population of Telugus of the two Telugu States is present in Ballari, Koppal, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Kolar, Yadgir, Chikkaballapur, Bidar, Bengaluru rural and Benguluru urban and Tumkur and Chitradurga, Bidar etc.

Kalaburugi, Kolar and Ballari have up to 30 per cent Telugu voters and Bengaluru has about 50-60 per cent Telugu speaking population. This goes up to 75 per cent in other areas mentioned above. Agriculture, industry, transport, small businesses, real estate and even as labour, Telugus are in a dominant position here.

These voters, both from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, have not only close connections with Karnataka but also have a say in the outcome of the results in the elections.

In the last elections, it was claimed by a section that the TDP-BJP break-up in AP was to affect the outcome in Karnataka and it did. In border areas of Andhra Pradesh and Benguluru city, the Congress got a majority. Finally, it led to a hung Assembly and the rest is history.

Close contests are expected even this time in at least 60-70 seats out of the 224. There is no TDP factor against the BJP now in Karnataka.

The BRS does not seem to be keen on entering the fray due to its compulsions as of now. Nor is YSRCP meddling with the outcomes where it can.

BJP sources say that there are attempts by its leadership to woo the Telugus by getting them influenced through Telugu politicians and Telugu hero fan clubs.

The Karnataka BJP unit already composed a song praising Modi on the lines of the Oscar winning 'Natu Natu' of RRR fame. In addition, 'Kiccha' (Sudeep) who recently joined the BJP might be used to tap into the potential of heroes like Balakrishna, Prabhas, Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna and Allu Arjun, it is said, even if it means just a word to their fan clubs.