What is shaping battle in Karnataka & why is it important for 2024

All political parties in Karnataka are in full-swing ahead of the Karnataka Assembly elections set to be held on May 10.

The elections in Karnataka are watched closely for a variety of reasons. First it would be a big battle between the BJP and Congress. Second, it is being touted as a trailer to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP holds 26 of the 28 parliamentary seats in the state and winning handsomely in the state polls becomes even more important for the BJP.

Karnataka is also the BJP's only stronghold in South India. The first BJP government in south was formed in Karnataka under the leadership of B S Yediyurappa. The BJP has been the single largest party on three occasions, but has failed to breach the majority mark. This time the party has been making a push not only among the Lingayat community, but others as well. The party hopes to build on a pan-Karnataka vote base and return to power with a full majority.

For the Congress winning Karnataka would be a big deal. If it wins big in the state, it would look to cement its position as the main opposition in the country. A win here would also mean that it is in power in four states of the country.

The election results would also have an impact on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and also the state assemblies of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Chhattisgarh. All these states go to poll this year.

Karnataka is also important in the context of what it contributes to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country. The state contributes 8 per cent to the GDP of the country, making it an economically powerful state. Karnataka had last month cleared 55 investment proposals to the tune of Rs 3,4512.14 crore..

It would also be interesting to see whether issues such as hijab and halal would work during these elections. The BJP's state chief Nalin Kumar Kateel had earlier raked up the Tipu Sultan issue as well. He said that none of his descendants should remain in the state and they should be driven away. He also said that the elections would fought on the ideology of Savarkar and Tipu Sultan.

However there has been some amount of fine tuning to the campaign by both the Congress and BJP. The Congress has decided that it would not go on personal attacks and focus largely on the failures of the BJP government.

The BJP too has been taking a different approach. It is focusing mainly on the contributions of the Centre to the state. While speaking about development the party is also going to town after it withdrew the 4 per cent OBC reservation for the Muslims and divided it among the Vokkaligas.