Sulking Krishna adds to Congress cup of woes in Karnataka

The Congress has been hit by rebellion and a three way split in Karnataka.

The Congress high command has kept everyone in suspense as to who the chief minister would be in case it wins the Karnataka elections and this even led Narendra Modi to mock them by saying, "How much will you show us the hand, show us the face now."

Earlier, it was a direct fight between state Congress chief G Parameshwar and Opposition Leader in the legislative assembly Siddaramaiah.

Today, the Congress has one more entity -- former chief minister S M Krishna.

Krishna has been sulking and complaining but continues to campaign while claiming that he can make a difference in 27 constituencies in Karnataka.

Even if the Congress were to come to power with an absolute majority it would be a battle of sorts for the high command to decide who the chief minister would be.

...

In case of a hung assembly, it would be the alliance partner (most probably the JD-S) which will take the final call.

Take the case of Mandya, which is 99 kilometres away from Bengaluru. Here, the contest has always between the Congress and the JD-S.

The Congress has not managed to win the seat despite fielding Kannada film star Ambareesh, who is extremely popular in the belt. He is up against M Srinivas of the JD-S who is looking for a third win.

This probably was the best chance that the Congress had to win Mandya, but right from the scratch, the party seems to have messed it up for themselves.

To begin with, Ambareesh was upset that he was not given the Srirangapatana constituency. Too add fuel to fire, he was upset that his loyalist was not fielded from the seat either.

He commenced his campaign on a sour note. He got into the bad books of Krishna and his followers. This means he is campaigning without the support of Krishna who has a considerable amount of say in that belt.

Krishna avoided Mandya city from where Ambareesh is contesting. He however covered all the other districts of Mandya.

Besides this there is a war on between Parameshwar and Siddaramaiah -- the two contenders for the post of chief minister.

Although they do not see eye to eye, they do have a common enemy in Krishna.

Everyone thought that Krishna would sulk and not campaign for the Congress. However he is back on the road with the claim that he can get 27 constituencies for the Congress.

Siddaramaiah is a mass leader and is the more familiar face of the Congress across the state. Parameshwar, on the other hand, has a good hold over the Congress workers since he has been with them for a very long time unlike Siddaramaiah who came into the party only five years back.

Krishna could make a difference in the urban areas and some parts of his home town of Maddur and Mandya.

The Congress high command will have to tread very carefully while selecting their candidate. In case they go with Krishna, then the Siddaramaiah faction could cause a ruckus and the government could fall even before it takes off. At the end of it all boils down to how many seats each of these leaders could influence at the end of it.

This will be a major factor while deciding the chief ministerial candidate. However, all this would come into play if the Congress does manage to take Karnataka with a majority.