Karnataka polls: It's not just about castes voting on predictable lines

Elections in Karnataka aren't just about castes voting on predictable lines. The scent, or as some might call it odour, of money wafts across the towns and villages of the state. It is the time when the electorate expects their legislators would share the spoils amassed over five years.

Across the region, frenetic road construction and laying of drainage is taking place as legislators try exhaust their local area development funds. Village temples have either been renovated or new temples constructed, mostly with healthy financial assistance from the politicians in the fray.

Voters give vent to their anger against a particular legislator or politician not because they believe he or she was, but only if in their opinion their legislator didn't do enough for their village.

The predominantly Nayaka tribal KG Hundi village in Heggadadevene Kote, commonly known as HD Kote, assembly constituency celebrated the opening of a new Devamma temple last week by slaughtering a goat, with the meat distributed equally among all the Nayaka households.

The meat was distributed on a tarpaulin spread out in the village square, which was recently reconstructed with concrete. The village also got a new metalled road. The men claimed they had abjured meat and alcohol for the last 45-days to propitiate the goddess, and the local politicians pitched in with assistance for the temple.

In Ranganathpura of Holenarsipura, Janata Dal (Secular) and Congress workers are divided over whether the local legislator had contributed when the village renovated its Venkateswara temple a couple of months back. Now, the community is divided if that legislator would help with the under construction Beeralingeshwara temple.

In Channapatna, a local shopkeeper proudly displays his photograph with the local legislator, who has faced several corruption cases. “He helped me with the admission of my daughter to a good school. He has also ensured that his development fund money helps farmers get water for their fields during the recent drought years,” Jayananta, the shopkeeper, says.

As one travels from Bengaluru to the sugarcane belt of southern Karnataka, excavators and pavers, for road construction dot the village roads and state highways. Contractors are a happy lot and preparing for the polling day by campaigning for whoever they believe will ensure that government contracts keep coming their way.

However, not everyone is happy that the Siddaramaiah government tried to reserve some share of government contracts for the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes, but they have few complaints if there is enough contracts for everyone and alliances have been struck. By the evidence of construction material piles, meant for sundry development works, on roadsides, there is work for everyone.

Villagers complain, as some do in Chamundeshwari, where Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is contesting, or Holenarsipura, the constituency of Janata Dal (Secular)’s HD Revanna, that their respective legislator ensured benefits of government schemes and contract only for the members of his community.

If some in Chamundeshwari accuse Siddaramaiah of favouring his Kuruba community, there are those in Holenarsipura who say Revanna prefers Vokkaligas. “But we believe they will be visiting soon, and redress that,” Annaiah, an elderly villager, says. Others say this favouritism is marginal, with all communities having benefitted.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has upped the ante on highlighting the “corruption” of the Siddaramaiah government, while the Congress has responded by reminding people of Yeddyurappa’s links with the mining mafia and his time in jail.

Let alone Siddaramaiah, who has a relatively clean image, even Yeddyurappa is judged kindly. “Yeddyurappa launched good schemes. He distributed free saris and bicycles. He just wasn’t clever enough and got caught,” Rafiq, a butcher who plies his trade in Belur town in Hassan district, and a committed Congress supporter, says. Similarly, former chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy, or Kumar anna, as he is respectfully referred to, is credited with having launched several social welfare schemes.

With barely a week left for the end of election canvassing on May 10, with the state scheduled to vote on May 12, the rival political leaders are likely to endlessly accuse each other of having indulged in corruption.

That would, however, mostly be for the consumption of people outside Karnataka. For the electorate of the state, particularly in its town and villages, it is more important for people if their legislator was there for them when they had turned to him for help with the construction of a new temple, a new road, a school or a public health centre.

While Siddaramaiah's contribution in launching social welfare schemes, including ‘Anna Bhagya’, or free food scheme, and Indira canteens, is widely recognized, common people expect other parties, including the JD (S) and BJP, if they were to come to power, to continue with these schemes.