K. Annamalai, IPS officer-turned-politician and BJP’s co-in-charge for the Karnataka Assembly polls, maintains that elections in the State are different from the earlier ones as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has created a “new class of voters” out of beneficiaries of various government schemes.
Immune to narratives
In an interview with The Hindu, Mr. Annamalai said this class of voters were immune to various political narratives that were being brought up against the BJP. “They are not bothered about anti-incumbency or allegations being levelled against the government as they have experienced an improvement in their living standards,” he claimed, insisting that this was a major factor that would beat the historical trend of the ruling party not winning elections in the last 38 years in Karnataka.
“There is a political change at the ground level. The BJP has been able to retain its main support base besides adding fresh voters because of the towering personality of Mr. Modi who transcends the geographical and caste boundaries,” he said.
Expressing scepticism about the results of various pre-poll surveys, Mr. Annamalai said Karnataka is a “psephologists’ nightmare” as it is a very complex State in terms of its cultural diversity, caste matrix, and regional issues. “In fact, there is confusion in all the surveys as there is wild swing of votes in all of them,” he said.
‘No time to settle down’
Arguing that the BJP government in Karnataka did not get enough time to settle down as it was haunted by COVID-19 and floods in its three-and-a-half-year regime, he said people were smart enough to understand that. “We have completed major projects such as Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway and Shivamogga airport or the installation of Kempe Gowda statue,” he claimed. According to him, the transformation started happening in Karnataka about six months ago when the Prime Minister visited the State for inauguration of various development works.
He said, “Because of our strong organisational network, we are good in the last one week to 10 days towards the polls. The focus is on Mr. Modi’s visits as they are being attended by a huge number of people. During these visits, Mr. Modi is not only addressing people but also interacting with party workers behind the stage to get feedback from them on the effectiveness of government schemes as well as campaign. This is changing the poll atmosphere for the BJP.”
