Karnataka’s dynasty politics are reinforced by a poll factory
Since all three of the major political parties, including the BJP, are beset by political dynasties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s combative rhetoric against dynasty politics in the Congress and regional parties is meaningless in the state of Karnataka. It has traditionally been customary for a family member to get the ticket in the by-election in the event of the death of a sitting member. However, dynastic politics are now pervasive and parties are not fielding grassroots workers to maintain the morale of regular cadres. There are 24 candidates from political families running in 2018 Lok Sabha election, despite the fact that the Congress and BJP have nominated a few workers in a few seats.
With 16 candidates, the Congress leads the field. Even Mallkarjun Kharge, the president of the All India Congress Committee, has a son-in-law, Radhakrishna, who is eligible to run from Kalaburagi. His son, Priyank, is a minister in the Siddaramaiah administration. In addition to a previous minister, six current ministers have obtained tickets for their wives, sons, daughters, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandchild, and brothers.
DK Suresh, a candidate from Bengaluru Rural and the brother of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shiva Kumar, There are several prominent families in politics: Mansur Ali Khan from Bengaluru Central, Soumya Reddy from Bengaluru South, Mrinal Ravindra Hebbalkar from Belagavi, Geetha Shivarajkumar from Shivamogga, Priyanka Jarkiholi from Chikkodi, Prabha Mallikarjun from Davanagere, Sagar Khandre from Bidar, Shrayas Patel from Hassan, Raksha Ramaiah from Chikkaballapur, Samyuktha Patil from Bagalkot, and Geetha Shivarajkumar from Shivamogga are from prominent families.
The BJP is fielding BY Raghavendra, the son of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa, from Shivamogga; Basavaraj Bommai, the son of former chief minister SR Bommai, from Haveri; Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the heir of Srikanatadutta Narashimaraja Wadiyar, from Mysuru-Kodagu; Gayathri Siddeshwara, the wife of the current MP Siddeshwara, from Davanagere; and Annasaheb Shankar Jolle, from Chikkodi, are also descendants of political families. Instead of offering tickets to the party’s youthful blood, party leaders who have previously served in different roles for many years, such as Jagadish Shettar, Srinivasa Poojary, K Sudhakar, B Sriramulu, and others, have been chosen.
The families of party leader HD Deve Gowda have received two of the three seats from JDS that were allotted to it as part of the alliance with the BJP. His son, HD Kumaraswamy, the state president of the party, is standing from Mandya, while his grandson Prajwal Revanna is running from Hassan. Former Jayadeva Hospital director and son-in-law Dr. CN Manjunath is running for office from Bengaluru Rural on a BJP ticket.
A second generation of politicians, including Sddaramaiah, who later on in their political careers became chief ministers and ministers, was trained by the then chief ministers D Devaraj Urs and Ramakrishna Hegde. By including all societal segments in electoral politics in the 1970s, Karnataka made a positive stride toward development, according to Prof. VK Natraj, the former director of the Madras Institute of Development Studies. Now, however, that tendency is regressing.
Dynasty politics are a bad indication and are used for self-defense. He said that it is regrettable that the JDS family politics are being followed by the Congress and BJP. When asked whether Congress will consider accepting candidates from political families, Siddaramaiah said that the primary factor in choosing candidates is winnability. Shivakumar said that families are now raising today’s leaders. Before releasing the tickets, the party got everyone’s approval. He also said that regular party workers from Kolar, Mysuru, and other locations had been selected.
