New Delhi/Bengaluru
Over the past year and a half, tribals have been at the centrestage of the Modi Government’s plan of action with a whopping Rs 90,000 crore budgetary allocations having been made for the welfare of the Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities.
Its tribal push saw the BJP romping home with an astounding victory in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home State of Gujarat in December 2022. And much credit for the showing goes to its spectacular performance in Gujarat’s tribal belt, where it won 24 of the 27 ST seats in the Assembly polls held last year.
However, its tribal push cut no ice with the ST community in Karnataka, just a few hundred kilometres away. The tribal community of the southern State went all out for the Congress, contributing to its emphatic win and helping it sweep aside the BJP’s challenge.
The Congress won 14 of the total 15 seats, reserved for the STs, with the Janata Dal (Secular) of former PM HD Devegowda winning one seat. The BJP, which had won half-a-dozen seats in 2018, failed to open its account this time round. Its six seats went to the Congress’ kitty.
The Congress, on the other hand, won 137 of the 224 seats, its second highest tally since 1989, with a vote share of 43.76 per cent. This time round, the party won 135 seats — 57 more than in 2018 — with a vote share of 42.9 percent and going well past the majority mark of 113 seats on its own.
While the BJP could win just 65 seats with a 36 per cent vote share, the JD (S), which was expecting to play the role of a kingmaker, won 19 seats with a vote share of 13.3 per cent.
The tribals of Karnataka considered BJP’s promise for increasing the ST reservation from 3% to 7% as only a lip service since no steps were initiated for carrying out a constitutional amendment for the purpose.
While the BJP could draw solace from the fact that Karnataka normally votes out the incumbent government, the emphatic nature of the victory of the Congress is sure to ring the alarm bells for the party.
More so, since even when the Modi wave in 2019 fetched the BJP 25 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats from the State, it lost one (Raichur) of the two parliamentary seats reserved for the ST, Bellary being the other seat which it bagged.
THE CONGRESS SWEEP OF ST SEATS
| Yemkanmardi (ST) | Satish Jarkiholi | Congress |
| Shorapur (ST) | Raja Venkatappa Naik | Congress |
| Raichur Rural (ST) | Basanagouda Daddal | Congress |
| Manvi (ST) | G Hampayya Nayak | Congress |
| Devadurga (ST) | Karemma | JD(S) |
| Maski (ST) | Basan Gouda Turvihal | Congress |
| Kampli (ST) | J N Ganesh | Congress |
| Siruguppa (ST) | B M Nagaraja | Congress |
| Bellary Rural (ST) | B Nagendra | Congress |
| Sandur (ST) | E Tukaram | Congress |
| Kudligi (ST) | Srinivas N T | Congress |
| Molakalmuru (ST) | N Y Gopalakrishna | Congress |
| Challakere (ST) | T Raghumurthy | Congress |
| Jagalur (ST) | B. Devendrappa | Congress |
| Heggadadevankote (ST) | Anil Chikkamadhu | Congress |
