Community appeasement politics puts Congress, BJP in spot of bother

The Muslim community claims to have played a key role in Congress coming to power in Karnataka.

Hyderabad: Community appeasement politics in the neighbouring Karnataka has put both the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a spot of bother.

Though Siddaramaiah has been sworn in as the Chief Minister and DK Shiva Kumar as Deputy Chief Minister at Bengaluru on Saturday, things are not as rosy as it appeared at the swearing ceremony.

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The Muslim community claims to have played a key role in Congress coming to power in Karnataka. Now, as a means to recognize the support extended to Congress party, the community is insisting on key portfolios to its leaders. Waqf Board Chief Shafi Sadi has openly demanded that the post of the Deputy Chief Minister and five key portfolios, including Home, Revenue and Education should be allotted to Muslim community MLAs. His video has gone viral on social media platforms.

On Saturday, Congress MLAs, including G Parameshwara, K H Muniyappa, K J George, M B Patil, Satish Jarkiholi, Priyank Kharge, Ramalinga Reddy and B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan were sworn in as Ministers in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet. It is not clear whether Congress will consider the demand put forth by the Muslim community as it needs to accommodate leaders from several other communities as well.

Similarly, the BJP failed to garner the support of Lingayat community, which comprises nearly 14 per cent of the electorate in Karnataka.

Traditionally, the BJP has been banking on the Lingayat community but the series of events that unfolded before the Assembly elections, including candidate selection, dented the prospects of the saffron party, political analysts feel.

To begin with, prominent Lingayat leader BS Yeddyurappa was removed from the Chief Minister’s post. Senior Lingayat leaders Jagadish Shetter and Laxman Savadi were not given the due they deserved and eventually, they defected to the Congress.

All these factors favoured the Congress, as 37 out of 46 Lingayat community candidates fielded by the party won. On the contrary, BJP fielded 69 Lingayat community candidates, but only 15 won.

Unlike the BRS government in Telangana, which showcases welfare and development to seek votes, both the Congress and the BJP stuck to communal and religion–based politics. While the Congress is now facing the task of consoling the Muslim community, the BJP will have to recoup its trust among the Lingayat community.

During the Munugode bypoll in Telangana, the BRS party presented its progress report on development and assured to take up more development in the constituency. On the contrary, the BJP indulged in communal politics while Congress could not even list out its contributions all these years in the development of the constituency. As a result, both the parties lost and the BRS won the bypoll convincingly.