(Online Desk)

The first round of ‘yatra politics’ in Karnataka came to an end on January 25 with the BJP’s rally in Mysuru.

In the last three months, senior leaders in the BJP, Congress and JD (S) had launched yatras — campaigns — to prepare their respective parties for the Assembly polls.

While that objective may have been partially achieved, the yatras certainly helped BJP chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa consolidate his position in the BJP and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to assert his grip over faction-ridden Congress. During his 85-day Parivartana Yatra, which started on November 2, Yeddyurappa travelled over 10,500 km and covered all 224 Assembly segments.

As a senior BJP leader puts it: “Organising so many rallies in such a short span of time was a Herculean task. No other leader in BJP or any other party in Karnataka could have done that.” Targeting Siddaramaiah and his government was a major focus at all the rallies, which also touched on some local issues. Many national leaders, including chief ministers of BJP-ruled states and Union ministers, attended some rallies. In all, Yeddyurappa addressed over 185 rallies.

“These rallies further consolidated Yeddyurappa’s hold over the party,” said the leader. Not everyone in the BJP were happy with Yeddyurappa being declared the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate as he had returned to the party after his failed experiment with the Karnataka Janata Party (KJP) in 2013 polls. Those dissenting voices would mostly be silenced now and Yeddyurappa would also have a greater say in selection of the party candidates. Initially, especially during the first few days, not many senior leaders attended the rallies.

Later, the BJP leaders seem to have made an attempt to portray unity to make the Parivartana Yatra a party programme to wrest power from the Congress, and not just Yeddyurappa’s effort. Later, as the rallies gained momentum, leaders from other parties -- Congress MLA C P Yogeshwara, two JD (S) MLAs and a few others -- joined the BJP.

“Many senior leaders, including some ministers in the Siddaramaiah government are expected to join the party after the state Assembly session in February,’’ said a BJP leader. Around the same time when BJP leaders were targeting his government at every single rally and state Congress unit was hardly doing anything to counter the BJP’s onslaught, Siddaramaiah launched his ‘Nava Karnataka Yatra’ from Bidar in North Karnataka on December 13.

During the 30-day yatra, Siddaramaiah addressed a number of rallies in around 120 assembly segments across the state. He focused on his government’s achievements and projected it as a government that fulfilled almost all promises made in the party manifesto during last election. His yatras came under intense criticism from the opposition JD(S) and BJP that accused Siddaramaiah of spending money from the state exchequer for what they termed as the Congress party’s election campaign.

Sources said as Siddaramaiah was going around the state addressing rallies, the state Congress leaders got jittery and decided to launch a separate yatra focusing on constituencies where the Congress lost in 2013 elections. The CM was visiting constituencies with Congress MLAs. Though Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G Parameshwara on several occasions stated that there were no differences within the party and launching of two separate campaigns was part of the party’s strategy, it hardly convinced many in Congress.

Parameshwara and other senior leaders launched the campaign from Kolar district, but it soon lost momentum. That was also the case with JD(S)’s ‘Karnataka Vikasa Yatra’, launched by party state president H D Kumaraswamy, from Chamudeshwari. Kumaraswamy later started interaction with focused groups such as senior citizens, intellectuals, industrialists and other groups.