My Columns: Without Fear and Favour

Karnataka Elections 2018 Can evoking "Kannadiga pride" help Siddaramaiah in Karnataka? By Deepak Parvatiyar The Marathi translation of this article was published in leading Marathi daily Pudhari on 4th May 2018 http://newspaper.pudhari.co.in/fullview.php?edn=Sangli&artid=PUDHARI_SAN_20180505_08_2     Can evoking “Kannadiga pride” unify the voters in Karnataka where they are bitterly divided over caste and creed? To begin with, unlike in some neighbouring states, Karnataka had never voted any party to power in the past that defined itself in terms of linguistic or regional identity. Incidentally, the Congress, which has raked up this issue, had always carried an image of a national party with secular credentials. Hence, the whole exercise has assumed farcical proportion and incumbent chief minister Siddaramaiah of the Congress, who was first to rake up the issue in the run up to the elections to counter Bharatiya Janata Party’s star campaigner N

Karnataka Elections 2018 Why top leaders are contesting from two seats?    By Deepak Parvatiyar   The Marathi translation of this article was published in leading Marathi daily Pudhari on 2nd May 2018 http://newspaper.pudhari.co.in/fullview.php?edn=Goa&artid=PUDHARI_GOA_20180503_04_1 To contest from two assembly seats simultaneously has become a fashion for the political heavyweights of Karnataka. With the exception of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Chief Ministerial candidate and state BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa, who has reposed faith in his old bastion Shikaripura, the other political bigwigs, cutting across party line, have opted to contest from more than one seat. While the incumbent chief minister Siddaramaiah is the Congress candidate from Chamundeshwari as well as Badami, former CM Haradanahalli Devegowda Kumaraswamy is the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate from Channapatna and Ramanagara. BJP’s young turk B Sriramulu is contesting from Molakalmuru in

Karnataka Elections 2018 Can the BJP win the Congress stronghold? By Deepak Parvatiyar The Marathi translation of the this article was published in leading Marathi daily Pudhari on  http://newspaper.pudhari.co.in/fullview.php?edn=Solapur&artid=PUDHARI_SOL_20180429_07_2 In the wake of the importance attached to the Karnataka elections, it is significant that the BJP is not the repeating the mistakes it made in 2013 by antagonizing BS Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat.  The controversial leader is back in the BJP fold as its state president and its CM candidate. Reports suggest the BJP is also going all out to woo the Janata Dal (Secular) and its leader (former Prime Minister) H.D.Deve Gowda – an influential Vokkaliga leader. The Lingayats and Vokkaligas are the most dominant communities in the state that constitute 29% of the population. Many consider that Deve Gowda could be the king maker in the state. Such presumptions gain ground considering that the present As

Karnataka Elections 2018 No political party has ever returned to power in Karnataka since 1983 By Deepak Parvatiyar The Marathi translation of this article was published in leading Marathi daily Pudhari on 28 April 2018     The high voltage election campaigning by national leaders of both rival parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, signify the importance of Karnataka elections. In case the Congress retains the state after elections, it will be a great morale booster for its cadre. In such a case the Congress president Rahul Gandhi can look forward to the ensuing elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh – all BJP bastions, with a positive frame of mind. He could then hope for a revival of the party before the 2019 general elections. This would be important particularly after his continued dismal show in state elections including those in the North Eastern states of Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland, earlier this year. To his advantage, K

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018  Shikaripura: The impregnable citadel of Yeddyurappa By Deepak Parvatiyar The Marathi translation of this article was published in leading Marathi daily Pudhari on 1st May 2018 http://newspaper.pudhari.co.in/archive/viewpage.php?edn=Kolhapur&date=2018-05-01&edid=PUDHARI_KOL&pid=PUDHARI_KOL&pn=8#Page/8/Article/PUDHARI_KOL_20180501_08_3/424px/121B54B     Having been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from his college days, the present Karnataka state Bharatiya Janata Party chief and CM aspirant, 75-year-old BS Yeddyurappa's public service began when he was appointed as Karyavaha (Secretary) of the Sangh's Shikaripur unit in 1970. Eversince Shikaripur has remained this former state Chief Minister’s stronghold. In the past, in 1975, he had even served as president of the Town Municipality of Shikaripura – Shikaripura assembly constituency is named after the town of Shikaripur, which forms part of

Karnataka Elections 2018 H.D.Deve Gowda --The kingmaker? By Deepak Parvatiyar The Marathi translation of this article was published in leading Marathi daily Pudhari on 8th May 2018 http://newspaper.pudhari.co.in/viewpage.php?edn=Kolhapur&date=2018-05-08&edid=PUDHARI_KOL&pid=PUDHARI_KOL&pn=8#Article/PUDHARI_KOL_20180508_08_2/247px/18AABFC With a tight contest round the corner and a hung assembly being predicted by poll pundits, the role of Janata Dal (Secular) in the next government formation assumes importance. Yet, interestingly, the public posturing of the JD(S) supremo and former Prime Minister H.D.Deve Gowda against the BJP and his bitter relationship with one time protégé turned detractor, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has added a twist of suspense on which way his party will go in case of hung assembly. As it is, in 2013 elections the JD(S) had got 40 seats – same as what the BJP had secured then. A crucial factor to be taken into consideration

Karnataka Elections 2018 Dynastic politics rule the roost in Karnataka By Deepak Parvatiyar The Marathi translation of this article was published in leading Marathi daily Pudhari on 4th May 2018 http://newspaper.pudhari.co.in/archive/viewpage.php?edn=Kolhapur&date=2018-05-04&edid=PUDHARI_KOL&pid=PUDHARI_KOL&pn=8     Sons have risen during the election time in Karnataka but there is nothing new about this. Dynastic politics has ruled the roost in Karnataka for quite some time now. With perhaps the only exception of Soumya Reddy, daughter of state home minister Ramalinga Reddy, who is given the Congress ticket from Jayanagar, there is no other daughter of any influential politician in the fray and it indeed significant that top state politicians continue to avoid pitting their daughters/daughters-in-law into the fray. A case in point is Janata Dal (Secular) supremo and former Prime Minister as well as former state chief minister H.D. Deve Gowda denyin

Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018  The significance of Bellary in Karnataka politics By Deepak Parvatiyar The Marathi translation of this article was published in leading Marathi daily Pudhari on 7th May 2018 http://newspaper.pudhari.co.in/viewpage.php?edn=Aurangabad&date=2018-05-08&edid=PUDHARI_AUR&pid=PUDHARI_AUR&pn=5#Article/PUDHARI_AUR_20180508_05_12/279px/1E068D1    Bellary district is the part of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, which was carved out of the erstwhile Princely State of Hyderabad. It was from here that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had contested and won against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sushma Swaraj in 1999. In 2013 state elections the entire region, including Bellary, had seen a Congress surge and out of the 40 constituencies in this region, the Congress had won 23 seats from here. The BJP and the JD(S) followed with five seats each while B.S. Yeddyurappa, who had left the BJP to form Karnataka Janata Paksha, ha