Karnataka Assembly elections 2018: What parties believe will work for them?

Now with less than two months to go for the assembly elections, Bengaluru and Karnataka are truly in campaign and election mode. The state has already seen multiple tours by PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Amit Shah and other bigwigs from all across the political spectrum. JD(S) has already declared their first list of candidates with 126 names. Congress and the BJP are expected to release their first list shortly, by end of March or in the first week of April. Hectic lobbying to secure a party ticket in underway in all camps. It is widely expected that all the parties will give tickets to younger and fresher faces, along with their sitting MLAs. This time around the Karnataka State Assembly Elections will be keenly fought with all the parties believing they have a real shot at power and thus leaving no stone unturned to achieve desirable results. Both the Congress and the BJP have had good electoral experiences in the recent past with BJP wining in the North East and Congress performing better than expected in Gujarat and wining by-polls in MP and Rajasthan.

In Karnataka, the Congress is trying to macro-manage the assembly elections to achieve favourable electoral arithmetic. Both CM Siddaramaiah and Rahul Gandhi have been launching scathing attacks on the policies of the central government and PM Modi. CM Siddaramaiah has tried and projected the 2018 assembly elections as a contest between him and PM Modi. Simultaneously, Congress is also trying to highlight and showcase its achievements and developmental work too. Congress expects to sail through with their traditional vote bank, along with that of minorities and backward class, they are also trying to woo other caste groups and vote blocks in different regions of Karnataka. Current CM Siddaramaiah has had his eyes on the assemble elections since the last couple of years. Thus Congress has indulged in some clever political manoeuvring with playing the son-of-the-soils and Kannada pride card and raked up issues such as anti-Hindi protests and Karnataka state flag. CM Siddaramaiah according minority status to Lingayats just 2 months before the elections is also seen as a move to dent the traditional BJP vote base.