BRS, BJP, Cong keenly watch Karnataka Assembly polls

HYDERABAD: The ruling BRS, as well as the opposition BJP and Congress, are placing a great deal of importance on the Karnataka Assembly elections, believing that the outcome would have an impact on the Telangana Assembly polls, which are slated for December.

The BRS leadership believes that if the JDS wins or ‘grabs’ the Chief Minister's seat in a post-poll alliance in the event of a fractured verdict like in 2018, it would put a stop to the ascent of the BJP and the Congress in Telangana in the election year.

The BJP and the Congress, on the other hand, believe that if they win the Karnataka Assembly polls, it would boost the morale of the party leaders and cadre in Telangana, as well as improve their winning prospects in Telangana Assembly polls, as several districts in Telangana state share a border with Karnataka.

All the three major parties believe that there would be a migration of leaders from one party to another in Telangana state based on the verdict of Karnataka polls. The BRS leadership thinks that neither the Congress nor the BJP obtaining the required majority in the May 2018 Assembly polls in Karnataka to form the government on their own contributed significantly to check the rise of the Congress and BJP in Telangana in 2018, which also went for polls in the same year in December 2018.

Though the Congress formed a coalition government in Karnataka in alliance with the JDS in 2018, it was JDS chief Kumuraswamy who headed the government as the CM, which the BRS feels that it did not boost Congress cadre in Telangana ahead of the Assembly polls in December 2018.

After the collapse of the JDS-Congress government in July 2019, although the BJP formed the government, they say it did not help the BJP as the Telangana Assembly elections were over by then and the BJP won just one Assembly seat in Telangana and failed to retain a deposit in about 105 seats.

The BRS leadership wants the JDS to win or ‘grab’ the CM post again in the Karnataka Assembly polls to put Congress and BJP in a fix in Telangana ahead of the Assembly polls in December 2023.

If the Congress or BJP wins Karnataka Assembly polls, BRS leadership feels that several disgruntled leaders in BRS or MLAs who fail to get tickets again to contest Assembly polls may shift their loyalties and if they lose the polls, it would be easy for BRS leadership to pacify such disgruntled leaders and convince them to stay put in the party.

The same would be the case with disgruntled leaders in Congress and BJP, who would be forced to look at other parties in the event of either the Congress or the BJP failing to win the elections in Karnataka on their own.