Karnataka Politics - It's All In The Family!

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has been quite unsparing in its criticism of the Congress for promoting a dynastic culture in the party, is itself guilty of it, going by its first list of candidates for the Parliamentary polls in Karnataka. The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), its newfound ally, is no better.

It starts with none other than B. Raghavendra, son of B. S. Yediyurappa, BJP strongman and former Chief Minister, who will seek to retain his seat from Shimoga, having emerged as an easy winner in 2019. The constituency is recognised as Yediyurappa’s home turf and the party’s bastion. Importantly, his other son, B. Vijayendra ,is president of BJP’s state unit.

Similarly, the JD-S which is recognised as the Gowda family’s party, is unabashedly promoting Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister, Deve Gowda, and son of H. D. Revanna.

Added to this, debutant politician Dr. C. N. Manjunath, the well known cardiologist and son-in-law of Deve Gowda, is the BJP candidate from Bengaluru Rural.

The doctor who is pitted against D. K. Suresh, the three time Congress MP from Bengaluru Rural, is expected to make the fight lively in the Vokkaliga dominated constituency. Suresh is Deputy CM D. K. Shivakumar’s brother. The family rules the roost in this belt.

It does not stop here. The JD-S is now engaged in a tough bargain with the BJP, determined as it is to fight from Mandya, the state’s sugar bowl. And Kolar, too.

Till the time of writing, negotiations were still on with the BJP. The JD-S is particularly keen to put up Nikhil Kumaraswamy from Mandya.

In the last Lok Sabha polls, Nikhil, son of JD-S chief and former CM, H. D. Kumaraswamy, had to bite the dust as Sumalatha, the well known actress and wife of the late film star, Ambareesh, won with ease. Even though she contested as an Independent, she had the BJP’s backing.

Now, the Gowda family is pressuring the BJP to convince Sumalatha to give up the Mandya seat in Nikhil’s favour. The Independent MP, however, is not willing. The voters in Mandya, again a Vokkaliga dominated belt, however, want either Kumaraswamy or his son to contest.

Meanwhile, in a recent development, the BJP used social media to take a dig at the state Congress leader, Priyank Kharge, on the ‘parivarvaad’ or nepotism issue by calling him “Mr Dynast.” The attack on the young leader, a minister in Siddaramaiah’s government, came after he had criticised the Election Commission for scheduling the Parliamentary polls in seven phases.

Priyank, son of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, however, hit back. He offered to arrange a DNA test for the Opposition party leaders who had promoted their family members.

Yediyurappa’s kin apart, the young Kharge referred to the former CM, B. S. Bommai’s family connections in addition to that of other BJP leaders such as K. Eashwarappa, Jagdish Shettar, Shashikala Jolle, Umakanth Jadhav, Bellad Arvind and Tejasvi Surya, among others.

According to news reports, the Congress leader dared the BJP to use the term “dynast” on several of its leaders in Karnataka who had a political lineage.

“Dear @BJP4Karnataka, If you have the courage, use and say the word DYNAST to @BSYBJP @BYRBJP @BYVijayendra @BSBommai @ikseshwarappa @Tejasvi_Surya @JagadishShettar @ShashikalaJolle @UmeshJadhav_BJP @BelladArvind among others in Karnataka. (The list is longer across India)," Kharge said in a post on X.

Notably, to take just two examples that the Congress leader has given, Jagdish Shettar’s father and uncle were associated with the BJP for several years. They were members of the Karnataka Assembly and the Hubli Dharwad city corporation.

Similarly, Bengaluru South’s candidate, Tejasvi Surya, is the nephew of well known BJP leader, Ravi Subramanya.

Meanwhile, while the BJP has already announced the names of 20 of its 28 candidates for the polls in Karnataka, the Congress is finding it difficult to go beyond the seven that it had listed earlier this month.

Significantly, apart from picking D. K. Suresh for Bengaluru Rural, the party included the name of Geetha Shivarajkumar, sister of Karnataka's Primary and Secondary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa, in its first list for the state.

She will be contesting from Shivamogga, against Yediyurappa’s son, Raghavendra. In 2019 she fought from the same constituency on a JD-S ticket but lost.

The Congress, incidentally, is in a dilemma as it wants some of its senior ministers in Siddaramaiah’s cabinet to contest, if only to target a win. Most of these leaders, however, are unwilling which, as a BJP leader claimed, showed that they were scared of a defeat.

This may also explain the delay over the announcement of the complete list of candidates by the party.

The cabinet ministers who were sounded out by the party include Krishna Byre Gowda from Bangalore North, H. C. Mahadevappa from Chamarajanagar, B Nagendra from Bellary, K. H. Muniyappa from Kolar, Satish Jarkiholi from Belgaum and Eshwar Khandre from Bidar.

Meanwhile, steps are afoot to woo Priyanka Jarkiholi daughter of Satish Jarkiholi, state Public Works minister and the working president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. She is expected to be the party’s candidate from Chikkodi, according to party insiders.

Another dynast ,this time from Belagavi could be Mrinal Hebbalkar, son of Laxmi Hebbalkar, minister for Women and Child Welfare. Similarly, Social Welfare minister, Mahadevappa, is pushing the party to name his son, Sunil Bose, as its candidate from the Chamarajanagar constituency. The final list is expected to be announced in a day or two.

In another development, the Congress party ,it is learnt, has finalised the name of Sowmya Reddy, daughter of transport minister, Ramalinga Reddy, for the Bengaluru South seat.This is in addition to Mansoor Khan, son of former minister, K. Rehman Khan for Bengaluru Central.

Clearly, irrespective of the political parties, ‘parivarvaad’ is here to stay. In Karnataka ,at least.