Parties hit by electoral blues in Karnataka

        Bangalore, Mar 30 (PTI) Electoral blues of one type or
the other has hit all the three principal players -- ruling
Congress, BJP and JDS -- in the run up to Lok Sabha polls in
Karnataka, with the Deve Gowda-led party facing most
embarrassing ones.
        With an open-door policy for party hoppers, JDS scrambled
for candidates in the eleventh-hour as it sought to fish in
troubled waters of its opponents and lay its hands on "prize
catch" in a predatory move that backfired in several cases.
        The party faced the most embarrassing moment on Saturday,
when its candidate for Uttara Kannada, former minister
Shivananda Nayak bowed out of the race, citing financial
constraint, leaving Gowda red-faced.
        A former BJP MLA, he had joined Karnataka Janatha Paksha,
which former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa floated and
recently merged with his parent party, before embracing JDS.
        JDS recently roped in former Union Minister Dhananjay
Kumar from KJP after he was refused entry to BJP and Mahima
Patel from Congress. Kumar has been fielded from
Udupi-Chikkamagalur and Patel, son of former Chief Minister J
H Patel, in Davanagere.
        It also almost coaxed former Railway Minister C K Jaffar
Sharief, who miffed at being denied the ticket from Bangalore
Central, had given strong indications about joining JDS.
        Sharief, a seven time MP, left the Congress but developed
cold feet on his entry to JDS, which was toying with the idea
of fielding him as its candidate in Bangalore Central, where
minorities have a significant sway, or in Mysore.
        Similar was the case with former high-profile Bangalore
Police Commissioner H T Sangliana, who had complained that his
Congress party had ignored Christians, picking up which JDS
had tried to woo him but he too had a change of mind to remain
in his own party.
        The final list of 12 candidates at last came on
Wednesday. JDS whose influence is mainly spread across the
Vokkaliga belt is contesting all the 28 Lok Sabha seats.
        In the case of BJP, the party ended with egg on its face
when it discarded right wing outfit Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod
Muthalik within hours after inducting him, after criticism
within the party and its opponents.
        A rebuffed Muthalik, whose outfit was linked with the
2009 attack on young women at a Mangalore pub as part of its
moral policing, is now contesting against state BJP chief
Prahlad Joshi from Dharwad and also against Ananth Kumar whom
he blamed for his plight, from Bangalore South.
        Congress is also having its own set of woes. In Mandya,
actress Ramya who won the seat in a bye-election, is fighting
the battle with a divided district unit.
        Similarly, Congress is facing simmering discontent in
local units in several other constituencies, including Shimoga
where Kumar Bangarappa had openly expressed his displeasure
over being denied the ticket.
        He has accused some party leaders of conspiring against
him but has not jumped into the fray.
        The party failed to retain Sharief, whose is influential
among Muslims in Bangalore Central, though its efforts paid
off in preventing the exit of Sangliana.

B D Narayankar