Mysuru, May 6: The political parties are trying to woo the voters with the support of Stree Shakti Sanghas which has large base in the Karnataka for May 12 election to Assembly.
Even ruling Congress has been in forefront claiming that this groups were more beneficial than other persons in providing government various schemes under special category.
The Sanghas were floated as a government initiative to economically empower women in rural areas. But given the growth and stability of the Sanghas, they are now perceived to be coalescing into a ‘vote bank’ who come into their own during elections.
From promising loans at nominal interest rates to promoting the activity of the group post elections, political parties have to woo them in view of their membership strength which is leveraged by the sangha to bargain for financial support.
Sangha leaders, with years of experience in dealing with the nuances of daily polity, tend to demand their pound of flesh ahead of the elections.
“Every Assembly segment has no less than 400 to 500 such Sanghas with each association having an average of around 15 to 20 members. In an election where the margin between victory and defeat is narrow and in most cases around a few thousand votes, their support matters,” explained a senior Congress functionary.
Most women voters in a constituency, more so in Mysuru rural, tend to be member of one or the other such self-help groups and hence parties tend to appeal to them collectively through their leaders.
“It is impossible to reach out to all sanghas but these associations have their own network of leaders who take the call and hence are approached for votes,” said M.A. Mohan of the BJP.
Cultivating these groups is akin to reaching out to microscopic minorities in any constituency.
According to a senior bank official, dealing with extending financial assistance to such groups, there are not less than 40,000 self-help groups in Mysuru district alone.
“In the absence of digitisation of data related to these organisations, the exact figures may be difficult to estimate,” he said.
In addition, there are NGOs who have formed a federation of such Sanghas adding to their leveraging strength.
It is arguable whether the Stree Shakti Group leaders command the loyalty of the members so as to follow their diktat. But what is certain is none of the political parties can ignore them in view of their numbers.
However, the group leaders are not revealing their support to which party in the elections and there may be division in this depends on the cast lines also. UNI
