In North Karnataka, drought tops poll agenda – not allegations against Prajwal Revanna
The BJP’s Hindutva push is unlikely to have much impact amid a severe water shortage.
For the last few days, Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna has featured prominently in the headlines. After the leak of video clips allegedly showing him forcing perhaps hundreds of women to perform sexual acts, the Member of Parliament has reportedly fled India. Revanna is seeking re-election from the southern Karnataka constituency of Hassan as an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
But in Ankalga village, 50 km west of the district headquarters of Kalaburagi at the other end of the state, Revanna’s alleged crimes were not among the key concerns of Shekhappa, Srimanth and Shivappa as their constituency and 13 others in Karnataka head to the polls on May 7, in the third phase of the elections. The state’s 14 other constituencies had voted on April 26.
Sitting on a granite bench on the veranda of a shuttered shop as the temperature soared to a scorching 42 degrees celsius, the three farmers had other matters to worry about: relentless drought, a crippling water shortage and the devastating crop failures in their village.
Kalaburagi constituency, the home turf of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, is among the districts in the state that has been hit hardest by the drought.
Shekhappa said that due to the water crisis, they have not...
