The Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in Gujarat, though with a thinner margin than hoped, has come as a morale booster for the party’s Karnataka unit ahead of the Assembly elections in 2018.
Party insiders admit that Karnataka has demonstrated several times that its voting pattern is not in sync with the rest of the country. Even so, they insist that the Gujarat victory is bound to lift the spirits of the Karnataka cadre.
The party’s State unit is trying to derive hope and enthusiasm from the Gujarat victory, especially in the wake of its organisation being haunted by infighting and groupism. Despite national President Amit Shah’s strict warning, there were clear signs of one-upmanship and lack of cohesion during the ongoing pre-poll campaign of Parivarthana Yatra of the party.
In such a situation, the party State unit leaders are rather helplessly looking at their Central leadership to take on the Congress and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Karnataka as they have not been able to take any campaign against the State government to its logical end. “The Gujarat victory will now enable the Central leaders to commence their task in Karnataka with an optimistic note,” a senior leader said. While Mr. Shah has already taken full control of the party State unit, he is expected to now focus on Karnataka polls by making frequent visits.
BJP State president B.S. Yeddyurappa stated this soon after the results: “After Gujarat, the next focus will be on Karnataka polls and we are confident of winning them.” Claiming that the party cadre’s confidence has been bolstered by the Gujarat victory, he said the crowds were expected to swell at the ongoing Parivarthana Yatra.
Meanwhile, though the BJP leaders were vociferously defending GST and demonetisation in public, they have been apprehensive about their negative impact on people. However, the Gujarat victory amidst demonetisation and GST regime has instilled some confidence among them, though several of them agree that there are not many similarities between the thinking of Gujarat and Karnataka electorate.
Another prominent BJP leader said the Gujarat results had a few lessons for the Karnataka unit, including that of realising the importance of putting up a “united fight”. Pointing out that the party had lost 38 seats within a narrow margin of 1,000 votes, he said it was a lesson to Karnataka BJP to not take any issue lightly.
He also said it was the micro-management of booths that helped in the party’s victory in Gujarat despite several odds and there was a need for Karnataka unit to adopt a similar strategy.
Karnataka next on the radar of BJP Central leadership
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stopover in Mangaluru on Monday en route Lakshadweep is being seen in political circles as a message that Karnataka is next on the radar of the Bharatiya Janata Party Central leadership after winning the Gujarat polls.
“This is the first visit of the Prime Minister after the Gujarat victory. Though he was not scheduled to hold any meetings or interactions during his brief stay in Mangaluru, it was a symbolic gesture to indicate that the next big focus will be on Karnataka,” a senior BJP leader told The Hindu.
