by srikanth hegde on Apr 30, 2008 06:11 PM | Hide replies
Hi all!
It is quite interesting to read forum postings here. Non-Kannadigas and Non-state citizens of India do not understand the caste equations and ground realities of Karnataka. Here are my observations, who is a resident of Karnataka and who has voted more than 25 times (including all types of elections):
1. It seems that BJP is in a terrible hurry to grab power in Karnataka. It also seems that they do not have the kind of edge they had late last and early part of this year.
2. The perceived sympathy wave seems for the BJP to be on the wane and is fast disappearing.
3. The general perception that a particular caste of community will vote for a particular party (read Lingayat and BJP argument). In any given situations, no caste will vote en masse for a particular party. There will be at least 20-25% of vote that may go against a party.
4. This is special time for Karavali or coastal belt of Karnataka. Modi could draw just 5000 people in places like Udupi, Puttur and Karkala which have been the fort like bases for BJP. Rebels like Shakuntala Shetty have damaged the prospects of BJP to a large extent. In a district like Uttara Kannada, BJP has given tickets to many people who are new to the party. In fact, the local MP Ananta Hedge has already started working against his own party!
