In Karnataka, no one dares to upset Modi, not even Congress

There was a reason why Siddaramaiah, without making any direct reference to actor-turned-Congress leader Divya Spandana's tweet on the prime minister, made his point clear by saying that character assassination of any individual was not right.

At a public meeting in Bangalore last week, Narendra Modi had said farmers were his "top priority" and went on to expand "TOP" as tomato, onion, potato. In response, Divya Spandana, alias Ramya, took a dig at Modi, wondering if he was on "POT", which was seen as a reference to cannabis. (She is the head of Congress social media cell.) 

A subsequent clarification that she meant "POT" - potato, onion, tomato - understandably did not find many takers, and the BJP went on the offensive claiming the tweet was derogatory to the PM.

Siddaramaiah said, "I have countered Modi's allegations point-by-point against our government, but refrained from making any personal attack. He may be our political rival, but I will not speak disrespectfully of the PM personally." 

Ahead of the elections in Karnataka, this is one of the main worries for the Congress. It wants to avoid any Congress leader doing a Mani Shankar Aiyar and give Modi the opening he is looking for. In Aiyar, Modi has had a dependable electoral "ally".

During the Gujarat election campaigning, Modi exploited the dinner Aiyar had hosted for his Pakistani guests and suggested that the Indian guests, which included former prime minister Manmohan Singh, were hatching a conspiracy. When Aiyar called Modi a "neech aadmi" to accuse him of playing dirty politics, Modi said it was a casteist slur and alleged Aiyar had gone to Pakistan to offer "supari" for him. In 2014, Aiyar had inadvertently helped the BJP to go on the offensive when he smugly offered space for Modi to set up a tea stall. Modi went to town, interpreting it as an insult to his past vocation, and the arrogance of the party [Congress] in power.

Ever since he took charge of the party, Rahul Gandhi has maintained that he and his party will follow a certain propriety even when mud is thrown at rivals in the heat and dust of elections. There is no booklet available that lists out the dos and don'ts, but it seems in the Congress book, everyone but Modi is fair game. So the name of Arun Jaitley can be changed by Gandhi to Arun "Jaitlie". The BJP has returned the compliment by branding the Siddaramaiah government a 10 per cent government, insinuating that it is corrupt.

This reluctance to attack the PM at a personal level is more to do with fear factor than real respect. Political strategists point out the example of Arvind Kejriwal who at one point in time, would not tire of dragging Modi into just about every issue concerning Delhi. So much so that it started to look like the Delhi CM suffered from a Modi-phobia. And the more he attacked the PM, his own stature started diminishing with even those who had voted him to power in Delhi, asking why he does not let his work do the talking instead of venting his spleen through Twitter everyday.

Which is why it will be interesting to note how the Siddaramaiah versus Modi battle plays out on Twitter. For the past one week, the Karnataka CM has taken on the PM, countering his allegations with facts. This has BS Yeddyurappa, the BJP's chief ministerial face, feeling left out as he expected Karnataka to be a Yeddyurappa versus Siddaramaiah fight. On numerous occasions, he has tried to draw the CM into an argument by responding to his tweets.

Siddaramaiah's effort to target Modi directly runs the risk of going wrong for two reasons. One, people like to see a battle between equals, and it would seem that Siddaramaiah is punching above his weight by taking on the PM. Two, it will take just one slip by Siddaramaiah for his rivals, including Modi, to use that to counter attack him.

Similarly, the approach of actor Prakash Raj is fraught with risk. For the past many months, Raj has been speaking out against both Modi and Amit Shah, accusing them of being anti-Hindu. If Raj campaigns against right-wing hardline elements in Karnataka, as he may do, it will obviously be seen as helping the Congress. It is a double-edged sword as any kind of vitriol that is seen as a personal attack, could boomerang.

It is here that the Nitish Kumar strategy is spoken of as a better template. He made the Bihar 2015 election as a "Bihari versus Bahari" duel, positioning himself and Lalu Yadav as sons of the soil versus the two outsiders in Modi and Amit Shah. So Siddaramaiah's emphasis on Kannadiga pride as a counterpoint to the nationalistic approach of BJP, would be a better electoral ploy.

Karnataka has always been seen by the BJP as its gateway to south India. The party made a mess of the chance it got in 2008, with Yeddyurappa who was the CM, getting embroiled in corruption cases. It would now want to make amends. With Karnataka being the largest state under Congress control, the stakes are high for both the parties. Enough reason for politicians to stoop as low.

Also read: Lord Ram, lord Krishna: Modi can play any role but that of PM