In Mission Karnataka, Congress puts all hands on deck for 70-odd ‘touch-and-go’ seats

Sources said three internal surveys have helped the Congress identify 70-odd seats across the state which the party believes can be won with “a little bit of extra effort”, helping it win the prestige battle for the state. The Congress central leadership has deputed AICC observers – drawn from across the country – to each of these constituencies.

The Indian Express has a list of 63 of the 70-odd seats identified by the AICC where Assembly-level observers have been sent. Of these, the BJP won 28 in 2018, the Congress 23, the JD(S) 11 and the BSP 1. Moreover, the Congress won many of these seats with slender margins, including Pavagada, Kundgol, Hirekerur, Sringeri, Bellary, Jamkhandi and Badami.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has covered four of these seats already – she was in Hanur and Krishnarajanagara on Tuesday, and Sringeri and Hiriyur on Wednesday.

The Assembly-level observers sent to Karnataka include former Madhya Pradesh home minister Bala Bachchan, Chhattisgarh minister Kawasi Lakhma, Rajya Sabha MP Ranjeet Ranjan, former Gujarat Leader of Opposition Paresh Dhanani, former Maharashtra ministers Vijay Waddettiwar, Amit Deskhmukh and Satej Patil, former UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and Uttarakhand deputy CLP leader Bhuwan Kapri.

Explaining the task before them, a leader points out that in one seat, the Congress has denied nomination to a leader who contested the last four times but won just once. “The party set-up is still with the person who was denied the ticket. Most of the office-bearers right up to the ward level are close to him. Added to that is the fact that his son is a BJP candidate from a nearby constituency. The task now is to involve all of his people in campaigning, telling the candidate to reach out to each one of them,” the leader added.

One of the observers said while handling disgruntlement among local leaders is a big part of their job, it includes “ensuring that the war room is functioning properly”, and finding out if “there is any scope for special operations”.

The special operations, he explained, largely meant targeting “specific voter groups… be it caste, community or linguistic groups”. Take Rahul Gandhi’s interaction with representatives of the fishermen community at Kapu in Udupi.

Another task is ensuring that the Congress’s “four guarantees” reach every household in the form of a card – these guarantees include an unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 for graduates and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders for two years, or Yuva Nidhi; 200 units of free electricity for all families or Gruha Jyothi; Rs 2,000 per month for the female head of the family, or Gruha Lakshmi; and 10 kg rice for BPL families, Anna Bhagya.

In Bengaluru, which has a sizeable population from other states, Lok Sabha MPs from Tamil Nadu Karti Chidambaram and Jothimani have been deployed to reach out to Tamilians; Kerala MP Benny Behanan and some other leaders from the state to tap the Malayali population; N Raghuveera Reddy to campaign among Telugu-speaking voters; and Sanjay Nirupam to target North Indians.

On Wednesday, it roped in more leaders, deployed as in-charges in other states – Avinash Pande, A Chella Kumar, Manickam Tagore, Ajoy Kumar and Mohan Prakash – and appointed them regional observers for Central Karnataka, Mysore, Mumbai-Karnataka, Coastal Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka regions.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has been crisscrossing the state – with much at stake since Karnataka is his home state — AICC in-charge of organisation K C Venugopal has been camping in Bengaluru to deal with issues such as unhappiness over ticket distribution and ironing out inner-party tussles.

Apart from the Gandhi siblings, the Congress’s three chief ministers, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, will spend extensive time in the state. Priyanka is likely to campaign for at least six more days, having spent two already in the state.