With its national president hailing from the state, Congress had the option of playing the local card in Karnataka’s assembly elections, the same way BJP utilised the local connect of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah in Gujarat. But AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, in an interview with TOI, insists that he is against personoriented poll battles and instead wants it to be a clash of ideologies. Excerpts:
Assembly Election Results
■ I don’t believe in fightingelections invoking personalities as it leads to sycophancy. As Ambedkar said, bhakti or hero-worship in politics is sure to eventually degrade into dictatorship. I believe in collective leadership. Also, somepeople want to project it as Kharge vs Modi. This is wrong. I am not fighting against Modi. I am fighting against the ideology he espouses. This election and next year’s parliamentary elections will be a clash of ideologies.
You becoming national president of Congress has resulted in the state missing out on a possible opportunity of a Dalit becoming chief minister…■ It is unfair to brand me a Dalit leader. My growth is because of my merit. I didn’t get the AICC president post through reservation. On becoming CM or PM, I have several times clarified that it depends on the high command which will decide based on the opinion of the newly elected legislative or parliamentary party. Presently, we are focusing on polls in Karnataka. At the national level, there are efforts to forge an alliance of secular parties against BJP ahead of parliamentary polls.
But all eyes are on you. Expectations are that you will emerge the PM candidate, especially since Rahul Gandhi does not seem to be as proactive in politics these days…■ I am not a frustrated politician hankering for power. I have had enough of it andhave handled various responsibilities in my 52-year political career. Rahul has not been a passive participant. His Bharat Jodo Yatra was a tremendous success across India. BJP-government Centre is harassing him just because he talks about Gautam Adani’s unholy nexus with the government and ill-gotten wealth.
But your colleagues seem to be squabbling over the CM’s post. Wouldn’t this hurt the party’s poll prospects?■ I made a clear statement about this at the recent Kolar rally. There is nothing wrong in aspiring to be CM, but one must abide by procedure. I don’t think there is any conflict over this. The state unit is fighting elections unitedly. We have not projected anyone as the CM face. We arefighting these polls under a collective leadership.
Is this why the party denied permission to Siddaramaiah to contest from two seats?■ Siddaramaiah will win easily in Varuna constituency. Theparty needs his presence across the state, and we didn’t want to restrict him to two constituencies.
What are Congress’ chances?■ Voter sentiment is in our favour as we are talking about corruption of the state government. Modi and Shah are mum about corruption, even after civil contractors wrote to the PM about 40% kickbacks. Congress is poised for a majority, but we are trying to win by a big margin. We should win at least 150 seats. Anything less than that risks Operation Lotus. BJP will break our party as they did in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. They have both paisa and police.
What will you do with seniors like Jagadish Shettar if they win?■ Shettar quit because he was humiliated by BJP regardless of his seniority and service since its inception. He will be treated with honour in Congress.
State functionaries have said the party will scrap BJP’s reservation policy if it forms the government.■ If our functionaries have promised something, they will keep their word. These issues will be handled at the state level.