The strategy of the Bharatiya Janata Party at the moment is to focus on “ideology-driven booth work” and not candidate selection in preparation for 2018 polls in Karnataka. Union Ministers Prakash Javdekar and Piyush Goyal, who are in charge of the polls for the party, conveyed this to the present and former elected representatives at a special meet on Saturday.
According to sources, they were strictly told that ticket was not a guarantee, and only party high command would take a call on candidates.
Fresh faces?
A senior BJP leader said with organisation work taking precedence over individual candidates, it seems like the leadership was preparing ground organisationally and psychologically to field many fresh faces in this polls. “Fielding fresh faces has been a strategy that the BJP national president has employed in multiple States,” he added.
On Saturday, sitting MLAs were made in charge of one more constituency apart from their own; the second constituency is not in their district. MLCs were also given charge of constituencies not in their district. The defeated MLAs have been put in charge of the constituencies where they were defeated. However, this does not mean an assurance of party ticket from the constituency, they were told. The leaders need to work with the party’s vistaraks at the booth level in the constituencies assigned to them. This strategy was decided by BJP national president Amit Shah during his three-day visit to the State in August.
Leaders hold dharna
Meanwhile, BJP leaders on Saturday held a dharna under the leadership of B.S. Yeddyurappa demanding the resignation of Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George, in the light of the CBI probe ordered by the Supreme Court into the M.K. Ganapathy case. He said the party will start an indefinite strike till Mr. George resigns, if he does not do so by September 26.