BENGALURU: The Congress’ performance in the Haryana and Maharashtra elections seems to have given a much-needed morale boost to the party in Karnataka. Opposition leader and former CM Siddaramaiah is now planning to launch a padayatra from flood-hit Belagavi district in North Karnataka to Bengaluru, in an attempt to corner the BJP government over it slacking when it comes to flood relief work.
In July 2010, Siddaramiah had launched ‘Ballari chalo’, a padayatra from Bengaluru to Ballari, where Congress targeted the ruling BJP for illegal mining. This had helped the party mobilize public opinion over the issue. In fact, that became one of the major issues in the 2013 assembly elections, after which, the Congress returned to power.
The Congress leader now plans to take on the government again, using the floods as his weapon. Lakhs of houses have been damaged, and over 100 people have died due to floods in the last two months. The Congress has accused the Centre and state government for not doing enough for the people.
Congress sources said Siddaramiah and other leaders wanted to start the march from Belagavi, which has suffered the most in the floods, to the state capital to draw the attention of the government and the public. “MLAs, MLCs from Congress along with party workers and also candidates contesting bypolls will join,’’ said sources. However, a date for this has not been finalised, but it will be before the bypolls.
Siddaramiah is also planning a padayatra in Bagalkot district, which is also hit by floods. He will walk from Badami constituency, which he represents, to Bagalkot town.
Political analyst professor Sandeep Shastri said it is too early to predict if this proposed padayatra will help Siddaramiah or not. “After he was appointed as Opposition leader, he is reasserting his position in the party. After the 2018 election defeat, many Congress leaders came forward to try and become the party’s ‘mass leader’, but failed. Now, Siddaramiah seems to be building this bridge. Through this padayatra, he wants to break the BJP’s stronghold. One need to wait and watch,’’ Shastri said.
Confident of winning bypolls
The former CM said the Congress has done well in Haryana and Maharashtra, and is confident of winning all 15 assembly seats in the bypolls, after which, he claims, BSY will have to resign. On Thursday, he said, “Other than giving Rs 10,000 to people who lost houses, the government has done nothing.” He added that the party will not be taking the rebels back.