Caste politics, lack of funding resulted in Karnataka bypoll losses: BJP

BENGALURU: The Karnataka unit of the BJP on Thursday blamed the caste and money factor for party's drubbing in the recently-concluded by-polls in Shivamogga, Mandya and Ballari Lok Sabha seats along with the Ramanagara and Jamakhandi assembly seats.

Soon after the BJP legislature party and core committee meeting, party spokesperson and state general secretary Arvind Limbavali said the losses in the by-elections were discussed in detail.

“During the course of the discussions, it was identified that the ruling party won the by-polls purely on money power and caste politics,” he said.

At the meeting, the legislators are said to have conveyed that the party backing for the BJP candidates was minimal with little or zero funding given to Jamakhandi, Ramanagara or Mandya.

In contrast, for the Shivamogga seat, it was seen as the party president BS Yeddyurappa having put his entire efforts into ensuring the victory for his son, BY Raghavendra.

“None of the MLAs or leaders raised the issues over who was responsible for the losses, and decided to present a unified front,” said a party worker.

However, it is said Yeddyurappa personally addressed the issue of the Ramanagara debacle wherein the party official candidate L Chandrashekar withdrew at the last moment and joined the Congress.

Party sources said Yeddyurappa blamed Chandrashekar for “back stabbing” him and the BJP after he had personally welcomed him into the party fold.

On the other end, the Ballari loss was blamed purely on the factor that party leader and Valmiki strongman B Sreeramulu did not “spend enough” to retain the BJP seat and get his sister J Shantha elected.

The BJP legislators said it was primarily the consolidation of the Vokkaligas in south Karnataka and the divide in Valmiki community in Ballari that favoured the Congress and resulted in the losses for the party.

Sreeramulu did not attend Thursday's meeting on account of him taking a “break” in Dubai.

Meanwhile, Limbavali tried to soften the blow in the public domain by claiming that BJP in reality had lost only one seat which it had held before the by-polls.

It is said the state BJP leadership is looking towards a course correction ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and salvage its pride after a disastrous 2018.

At the meetings it was discussed that there was an immediate need to get their party cadre in line, as none had spent enough time or effort to ensure victory for its candidates.

Six BJP teams to tour drought and flood hit districts

Yeddyurappa announced that as an effort to ramp up the attack on the ruling coalition over the government’s lack of administration, it has decided to send six teams of it own legislators to collate data and information on the drought and flood-hit districts in the state.

“This apart, on December 10, inaugural day of the winter session in Belagavi, the BJP will be holding a farmers rally opposite the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha,” said Yeddyurappa.

Of the six teams of legislators, five teams headed by Jagadish Shettar, KS Eshwarappa, Kota Srinivas Poojari, R Ashoka and Union minister Ramesh Jigajinagi will be visiting the drought-effected regions while the last team headed by another Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda along with three other MPs will be taking stock of the Kodagu flood devastation.

“All these teams will be collating the data and input to identify the state government lacunaes in addressing the relief measures towards people suffering from drought and floods in the state,” said BJP state general secretary Arvind Limbavali.