BJP woos Karnataka OBCs with development mantra

The BJP's Other Backward Classes (OBC) Morcha is organising conventions in every Assembly segment to woo micro OBC communities to counter Congress’ aggressive push to woo ‘Ahinda’ (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) under the leadership of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and CM Siddaramaiah. 

The OBC vote bank is a highly fragmented voter base involving over 200 castes in the state. Among these castes, there are several microscopic backward castes (MBCs), like Hindu Sadara (not to be confused with Lingayat Sadara) whose number is very small and people belonging to this caste live in and around Chikkaballapur and Kolar districts.

Similarly, Uppara and Devanga communities are dominant in Chamarajanagar district. Each Assembly segment has around 10,000 voters belonging to MBCs. Therefore, BJP has set its eyes to organise them ahead of the polls. 

The BJP will also try to attract dominant backward class communities like Kuruba, Ediga and Balija, considered economically stronger segments within the OBC vote bloc.

Speaking to DH from Madikeri over phone, BJP OBC Morcha president R Raghu (Koutilya) said that the party cadre was aggressively reaching out to MBCs at booth level as most of these castes lack leadership and political representation.

“We are trying to unite them under the umbrella of 'Navella  Hindu' (We are all Hindus) and Deshakkagi Matthomme Modi (Once more Modi for the country),” he said. 

'False promises'

“The Congress government came to power by making false promises to Ahinda communities a year ago. But now the OBCs have realised that Congress has cheated them. As soon as Congress came to power, they slashed budgetary allocations made to about a dozen corporations such as Devaraj Urs, Madivala, Uppara and Ambigara Chowdaiah by 50%,” he charged.

Raghu alleged, “For instance, the Devaraj Urs Corporation, during the BJP’s time, received Rs 190 crore. But it was slashed to Rs 100 crore under Siddaramaiah’s government. Can this be termed as development of OBCs?”

He said they would highlight Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s schemes such as Mudra, PM Swanidhi and Koushalya Bharat that have helped the OBCs to be self-employed in the last 10 years.

“The union government is in the process of releasing funds to over 26 lakh OBC youths across the state under these schemes during the 2024-25 financial year.”

He said the OBC Morcha has held 45 conventions in the last 15 days conveying the party’s message and trying to win over the MBCs in big numbers. It also plans to cover all remaining constituencies in the next 20 days.