Today Karnataka will go to polls. The entire campaign was dominated by religious discourse. The premier two parties tried to seek the blessings of ‘Lord Hanuman’ and were busy in promoting one’s unflinching faith towards Lord Hanuman.

Unfortunately the political parties didn’t feel the necessity to share their vision for Karnataka. Will Karnataka accept such political literature? The answer is yet to come by. Today when the voters will go to cast their vote what will be in their mind– development or religion. The main problem with Congress is that it emulates the footsteps of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Congress could not become a challenger in this campaign. Rather it reacted to the barbs of BJP. The saffron brigade is a right wing political force. A massive anti-incumbency wave was there against BJP in Karnataka.

The party think tank tried to drape it with religious discourse. Congress has lost its originality and it is trying to become a clone of the BJP. This copycat culture will not bring political dividends for the Congress.

The grand old party too has several hiccups in Karnataka. There are many chief minister hopefuls and all are nursing their ambition. D K Shivkumar, Siddaramaiah and now Jagdish Shettar.

The survey reports have put Congress on a high pedestal compared to the BJP. It is being predicted that this time the contest will be extremely tough for the BJP. The Prime Minister has invested his time and energy in Karnataka. If BJP manages to sail through, certainly credit will be attributed to Modi. However, it will also have to be admitted that the verdict of Karnataka polls is unlikely to have any impact on BJP for 2024.

As of now there is no viable alternative to Modi in Delhi and this is the greatest insurance cover for Modi. Rahul Gandhi has become more combative in recent years, but his political acumen is still not matching the shrewdness of BJP in general and Modi in particular who is a seasoned politician and has cut his teeth in Indian politics much before the Gandhi scion.