Homework | Ahead of Kolar Rally, Why ‘Rahul Gandhi Vs PM Modi’ Fight in Karnataka Hurts the Congress

Rahul Gandhi’s election campaign entry in Karnataka from Kolar on April 9 is a unique event – not only is it awaited by the Congress but will be watched keenly by the BJP as well.

This is because Rahul may end up converting what has essentially been a ‘local-issue campaign’ by the state Congress so far, to a ‘national-issue campaign’ over pet issues like Adani and “dwindling democracy” under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is a battleground that the BJP also wants to play on as it pitches its biggest draw in Modi against Rahul and makes the election more about the ‘national-level issues’.

Two senior BJP ministers, Amit Shah and Mansukh Mandaviya, at the ‘News18 Rising India Summit’ last week said if the Congress wanted to make it a ‘Rahul versus Modi’ fight in Karnataka, the BJP would win hands down.

“If he (Rahul) wants to do Modi vs Rahul (in Karnataka), I don’t have any objection. There can be no bigger formula for the BJP to win than this,” said Shah. Mandaviya also said Rahul will pave the way for a BJP win in Karnataka.

Rahul’s first rally has, in fact, been moved to April 9 to coincide with PM Modi’s visit to Karnataka on that day.

National versus state issues

The Congress campaign in Karnataka, so far, has been focused on state-level issues like ‘PayCM’ corruption, the caste reservation muddle and the “humiliation” of BJP’s tallest Lingayat leader BS Yediyurappa on being removed as the chief minister two years ago. Putting up a united front of DK Sivakumar and Siddaramiah so far, who took statewide yatras, the Congress has also seamlessly decided on candidate tickets.

What the BJP is hoping for is Rahul queering the pitch. One, his disqualification as an MP due to conviction in a criminal defamation case will be used by the saffron camp to say he had abused the entire OBC community. Rahul has slotted his first rally in Karnataka in Kolar, where he had made the objectionable comment in 2019. The OBCs are a major vote bank in Karnataka, who in a large measure have been voters of the Congress with Siddaramiah being a tall community leader.

The BJP aims to turn the OBCs against the Congress and Modi’s whirlwind campaign in Karnataka is expected to stress on this point. Rahul’s attack on Modi while in the UK on the issue of Adani and “dwindling democracy” in India, have already seen the BJP aggressively countering it saying the former Congress president had spoken against the country on foreign soil.

The PM, in his campaign in Karnataka, is expected to dwell on this and cite the “conspiracies” by local and international players to defame India. Modi in Karnataka will also try to turn the corruption debate around and cite the Congress record over the years.

Almost on cue, the BJP released a special video on Sunday citing the “record corruption” under the UPA days and how the Gandhi family was central to such scams. Modi’s campaign will also focus on the “double engine” development in Karnataka under the BJP and how every vote helped strengthen Modi’s hands. The BJP is not even declaring a chief ministerial face in order to keep Modi at the centrestage of the campaign.

The Congress won Himachal Pradesh as it kept the election ‘local centric’ with issues like the old pension scheme and problems of apple growers. It would do well to stick to the same approach in Karnataka, as it has so far. Rahul did not campaign in Himachal Pradesh as he was preoccupied with the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. The BJP, however, is now spoiling for a ‘Modi versus Rahul’ fight in Karnataka.

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