Congress living dangerously in poll slog overs?

In what is largely seen as an election in which the Congress has the natural advantage of anti-incumbency against BJP, the party's manifesto promise of banning the Hindu right-wing Bajrang Dal caused some anxiety.

That's because it came after back-to-back controversies courted by senior Congress leaders that have threatened to hurt optics.

The BJP aggressively picked up the reference to Bajrang Dal in the Congress' manifesto. While most Congress leaders argued that this would not impact the poll outcome, they did feel that naming and shaming the Bajrang Dal or PFI with a week to go for the Assembly election was a "risky" proposition.

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It is said that Congress wanted to ensure the consolidation of Muslim votes amid fears that the SDPI would eat into this vote block.

"This election was about bread-and-butter issues. But the Congress has turned it into a Hindutva election," one pollster tracking the Karnataka election said.

One Congress MLA was optimistic and pointed out that the BJP will definitely try to consolidate "Hindutva" votes. "But such hardcore right-wingers were never Congress voters anyway. Hence, it will not make much difference," the MLA said.

But will this push fence-sitters towards BJP? This appears to be a concern. "There was no need for the party to touch this raw nerve at this juncture," one Congress leader.

Apparently, the Bajrang Dal move of the Congress runs the risk of spoiling the party's prospects in coastal seats where it stood a chance. Also, some impact is expected in seats like Gangavathi and Kanakagiri where Hanuman is a revered deity.

However, political analyst Muzaffar Assadi remarked that the issue is unlikely to see much impact except in the coastal belt where the Hindutva wave is already strong.

More than a week ago, Congress leader Siddaramaiah courted a needless controversy. Asked to comment on the BJP's plan to declare that a Lingayat will be its CM candidate, Siddaramaiah chose to say: "There's already a Lingayat CM who is the most corrupt." The BJP turned this into an "insult" to the entire Lingayat community.

Then came Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi with "a poisonous snake". His son and Chittapur MLA Priyank Kharge called Modi "naalayak beta" (incompetent son).

In the past, the Congress had to pay electorally with loose comments such as "neech" and "chaiwala", which the BJP capitalised on.