All the three parties have started their yatras and claim to be confident of winning more than 100 seats in the 224-member assembly. The ruling BJP has set its target at over 150 seats, while the Congress announced that their surveys showed they would win over 130 seats this time. JDS, a regional party led by former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, has also set its target at 123 seats, although the highest number of seats won by the party in 2004 was 58.
BJP, Rath Yatra Expert
Sharpening its election pitch, the BJP has planned a series of yatras, two of which have already been completed – Jan Sankalp Yatra (October 2022) and Vijay Sankalp Yatra (January 2023). For the Jan Sankalp Yatra, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Member of the Parliamentary Board BS Yediyurappa marched across Karnataka as they made their election pitch.
The ruling party also organized a nine-day Vijay Sankalp Yatra, a booth-level campaign aimed at reaching households detailing the BJP’s good governance in the past four years.
The BJP recently announced the launch of four mega ‘Rath Yatras’ designed to counter the Praja Dhvani Bus Yatra by the Congress and the Pancharatna Yatra by the JDS.
BJP leaders told News18 that the decision to organize the ‘Rath Yatra’ was taken during the BJP’s national executive meeting held in Delhi last month, and to ensure that the momentum of support for the party in the southern state is built. are. BJP is expected to come to power with full majority this time.
“We (BJP) formed the government for the first time in the south. India in 2008. The wave was in our favor. Since then, we have grown from strength to strength. Today we are in power but we have the ability to sit in power and give good governance without the support of any other party. It is only a matter of few days and the people of Karnataka will vote in our favor, we are confident,” said a senior BJP leader on condition of anonymity.
The four Rath Yatras, which began on February 26, are expected to end on March 23. The teams coordinating the yatra will be directed by Bommai, state president Nalin Kumar Kateel, former CM BS Yediyurappa and state in-charge Arun Singh. Prime Minister will also be seen in these visits Narendra Modi and senior national leaders participating in key constituencies. State Deputy Speaker and Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra has also been given the key role of heading the committee that organizes conferences of various fronts in all the 224 assembly constituencies.
Yatra to show unity in State Congress
Opposition Congress has launched its bus tour named ‘Praja Dhvani’ (people’s voice) to highlight the “administrative collapse” under the BJP. Divided into two phases, the first phase of this campaign on wheels was launched from Veer Soudha in Belagavi, where Mahatma Gandhi presided over the 1924 session of the Indian National Congress on 11 January. Over the next 18 days, senior Congress leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah campaigned in 22 districts and the yatra culminated in Bidar on 29 January.
The second phase of the yatra was launched on February 3, and both Siddaramaiah and state Congress president DK Shivakumar will form a united front and cover Karnataka districts from north to south. Though there have been reports of a deep rift between the two leaders, the party has advised them to work unitedly to bring the Congress back to power. Divided into two teams, one is expected to campaign in 14 districts of North Karnataka, while the other will cover 14 districts of South Karnataka – over a period of 30 days.
Good start to the journey for JDS
The JDS has made a good start to its election campaign with the Pancharatna Yatra launched in December. Kumaraswamy, who has been chief minister of three coalition governments – twice with the Congress and once with the BJP – is hoping to garner maximum support by promoting his five-fold plan – the ‘Panch Ratna’. He has promised to implement people-friendly welfare schemes in the areas of education, health, housing, farmers’ welfare and employment.
Kumaraswamy, who is busy with this trip, did not attend the entire winter session held in Belagavi in December and is not expected to attend this budget session as well. This is due to the third phase of the yatra, which was launched on February 8 and the former CM has been on the road since then.
Political analyst Sandeep Shastri said that political yatras help a party inspire as well as show strength to workers and supporters on the ground. He observed that apart from energizing supporters, political parties are also using the 24-hour media coverage as another platform to widen their presence across the state.
He said, “Whether the presence of people involved in the yatra translated into votes in favor of any party or not, it is yet to be proved.” News18,
On the question of parties starting the yatra for the sake of it, Shastri said that a party was forced to start the yatra so as not to look back but it was nothing but a “competitive support projection”.
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