New Delhi/Bengaluru: Well ahead of the crucial assembly polls in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is planning to launch a 75-day election campaign in the state on 2 November to start the Nava Karnataka Parivarthana Rally.
The poll campaign would start from Bengaluru in a public meeting which would be attended by BJP’s chief ministerial candidate B.S. Yeddyurappa, former deputy chief minister K.S. Eshwarappa and BJP president Amit Shah. The assembly elections in Karnataka is due in May 2018.
The attempts to portray a united election campaign by the BJP’s state unit leadership indicates that the central leadership, particularly party chief Amit Shah, is in no mood to allow any factional fights in the BJP before the elections.
“The public meeting in Bengaluru on 2 November will lead to a series of public meetings that would be held by state leaders and roadshows would also be organized across Karnataka. All state leaders have been categorically told to end their differences and work for the party,” said a senior BJP leader from Karnataka.
Senior leaders of the BJP point out that the message from the central leadership for both Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa is to not let internal problems of the party to benefit Congress.
BJP leaders from Karnataka explain that while the central leadership has announced Yeddyurappa as the chief minister candidate for the assembly elections in 2018, there is a section within the party which wants Eshwarappa to become the CM face for the elections.
“The fact that both Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa would be on stage with Amit Shah means that the infighting has been halted by the central leadership. We cannot say that there are no problems between Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa, but central leadership wants them to first win the elections,” the BJP leader added.
Though the BJP’s central leadership has negotiated a truce between Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa, the factionalism within the party has left them with a weakened attack against chief minister Siddaramaiah, whose popularity has increased mostly due to his populist policies centered around food security.
Interestingly, the BJP have also gone after the ‘Nava Karnataka’ name that Siddaramaiah has been actively promoting to highlight the achievements of the government and future plans. The BJP has been trying to appeal to voters with central schemes while Siddaramaiah has introduced several populist schemes like Anna Bhagya (free rice) and Ksheera Bhagya (free milk to students).
“Amit Shah will be there,” a state BJP leader said. He added that the rally will continue to other parts of the state where leaders from the region would join in. However, BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Yeddyurappa is expected to be a constant feature when the Parivarthana Rally goes to all 224 constituencies of the state.
Though the Congress has already kickstarted its election campaign much earlier, the BJP has finally, under Shah, been able to move forward to ensure it can avoid a repeat of the 2013 assembly elections where it was reduced to 40 seats from 110 in 2008.
The Congress has already declared Siddaramaiah will lead the party into elections at the end of May, which ensured all warring or dissenting factions would focus on the elections rather than fight each other.
Political analysts feel that Shah would be able to fix the internal problems within the party like it was done in other states and the party would work as a united front before he elections. “Karnataka has a strong Congress leader who is the chief minister and the BJP is starting early for the assembly elections because the party would want to work out a clear strategy before the elections,” said Jai Mrug, Mumbai-based political analyst.