The Congress has shot itself in the foot in Bidar city constituency and may now have to limp its way to the finish line. In a last-minute decision, the Congress high command nominated a Hindu candidate while ignoring a strong Muslim candidate, who moved to the BSP in the Muslim-dominated Bidar city constituency. This has left senior Congress leaders perplexed since it means that the party could lose its traditional Muslim vote bank to the BSP, which now seems to have a clear edge in the seat. As Bidar goes to polls in the third and last phase of the Karnataka elections on May 22, the BJP and the Congress have been left to fight for the Hindu votes. Till the last date for filing nominations in Bidar, everyone believed the Congress ticket was Rahim Khan’s. A senior party leader said, “We don’t know what happened but Gurpadappa Nagamarpalli filed his nomination papers while we believed it would be Khan.” Betrayed, Khan immediately filed his nomination as a BSP candidate. The BJP has fielded Raghunath Malkapuri as their candidate.Of the close to 1.8 lakh voters in the communally sensitive Bidar, around 60,000 are Muslims and Congress sources say Rahim Khan would have guaranteed the party’s win. But now, such is the anti-Congress sentiment that senior Muslim leaders in the Congress have refused to campaign in Bidar’s Muslim localities. Several residents in Bidar’s Muslim areas only said, “The party does not matter, only the candidate does.” Moinuddin (name changed) was with Khan in the Congress but is now in the BSP. “Traditionally in Bidar, elections are about Muslims versus non-Muslims. Khansahib is a huge figure here and has done much for the economically weaker sections,” he said. Khan runs a few educational institutions, including a nursing college. Khan also has a few Hindu supporters, particularly those from the economically backward classes, as he reportedly helped them during the recent anti-encroachment drives in Bidar, where around 5,000 illegal constructions were demolished. Now, the Congress and the BJP are making an all-out effort to woo the non-Muslim electorate in Bidar. While several defections from the BJP to the Congress have hurt the former, the BJP is riding on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindutva campaign in Bidar. On Tuesday, Congress candidate Nagmarpalli did enter a Muslim area in Bidar, but only to visit a temple, where he canvassed for votes from the Marata community. A senior Congress leader admitted, “We have not toured the Muslim areas and are concentrating on gathering the Hindu vote. That’s the only way to defeat the BSP.”The political bigwigs have failed to impress Bidar’s voters. AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s public meeting, scheduled in Bidar city three days ago, was shifted to another constituency as the crowds were thin. However, the BJP’s star campaigner B.S. Yeddyurappa did manage some numbers, but his programme lasted barely 15 minutes. The JD(S) seems nowhere in sight—even Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy drew a crowd of around 500 people, most of them there just to see his helicopter. His father and former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda even cancelled his programme. The BSP has nominated rebels from other parties too in Bidar district. Nasimuddin Patel is contesting on a BSP ticket in the newly created Bidar South constituency after the Janata Dal(S) denied him a ticket. Shantappa Patil, who was denied the BJP ticket, in fighting from Basavakalyan constituency on a BSP ticket. In the past, Bidar city constituency has thrice elected Muslim leaders of the Congress. In 1994, Syed Hashmi won the seat on a BSP ticket.
