Is Sonia joining Bharat Jodo Yatra at Mandya a warning message for JD(S)?

The Indian National Congress is going all gun blazing in Karnataka with its Bharat Jodo Yatra vehemently targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, the Congress doesn’t look to be sparing the Janata Dal (Secular), either, as party chief Sonia Gandhi chose to join the 3,570 km yatra in Mandya, the stronghold of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.

The yatra, which will travel through the state for 21 days, is predominantly going through the Vokkaliga belt, while also touching places where the Dalits can sway who wins an electoral battle in certain pockets.

By fielding Sonia Gandhi in Mandya, sources speculate, the party has sent an unambiguous sign to the Gowdas that they will have a hard bargain at hand if they want to ally with the Congress in next year’s Assembly elections or 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

However, what might not be apparent, but must be read along, is that Karnataka state Congress chief D K Shivakumar is trying to dethrone the Gowdas as the custodians of Vokkaliga votes in the state. With the help of Bharat Jodo Yatra, and an electoral surge in the region would establish Shivakumar as a predominant Vokkaliga leader, as well as bring in bargaining chip once the election is over.

Read | Sonia Gandhi joins Bharat Jodo Yatra in JD(S) stronghold Mandya

At one point, there was also chatter that Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra would also join the yatra in Mandya or Mandya-Tumkur border. However, there is no confirmation about her participation in next couple of days; but speculation is rife about her participation in Bellary, a Dalit stronghold.

Reportedly, Congress is of the view that the JD(S) is diminished and the party should not hesitate to usurp the space rather than give it to the BJP on a platter.

The route of the yatra is learnt to have been finalised after a lot of thought, as Rahul and other leaders covered Assembly and Lok Sabha seats which the rivals won in the past elections.

The yatra will be passing through seven districts—Chamarajnagar, Chitradurga, Mysuru, Bellary, Raichur, Tumkur and Mandya—with over 60 Assembly seats, where the BJP and the JD(S) have the electoral upper hand, and the Congress has taken it up as a challenge to break that hold.

Senior MLA Laxmi Hebbalkar, however, sought to downplay the party’s plans. “The yatra is not about electoral politics. It has a larger agenda. Soniaji could participate in the yatra now only and so it happened today,” she told DH.

Shivakumar and Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal were at their rhetorical best in describing the impact Sonia’s joining the yatra had on Congress workers. However, they were also quite adamant not to be drawn into questions about her participation.

Interestingly, the day Sonia joined the yatra, the Karnataka Congress also displayed a show of unity with Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah launching attack against the summoning of Shivakumar by the Enforcement Directorate saying: “The BJP is scared of the Bharat Jodo Yatra…they are shivering.”