The Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) recently appointed new district presidents ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP has chosen Chandrashekhar Kavatagi to head the district unit, while the JD(S) appointed Mallikarjun Yendigeri. Interestingly, both of them have served in the same position in the past too.

Considering their seniority and loyalty to the party, both of them have been chosen to unite workers for the Lok Sabha elections. Out of the two presidents, Mr. Kavatagi seems to have a bigger challenge in uniting leaders of the party, which has been suffering from factions and groupism.

For instance, city MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal has been the political enemy of party leader and former MLA Appu Pattanshetty. Mr. Yatnal also does not have a cordial relationship with MP Ramesh Jigajinagi and MLC Arun Shahapur.

Even BJP councillors are divided as they have their own leaders.

“I do admit that we have factions, but I have the challenge of uniting them for the elections,” Mr. Kavatagi said.

He told The Hindu that the leaders may be having internal differences, but to ensure the victory of the party candidate, they must bury their differences. “We have a single and clear target before us — ensuring the victory of BJP candidate, for which I will be meeting all leaders and convincing them to come on a single platform to achieve the goal,” he said.

The challenge for Mr. Yendigeri is a little different. More than uniting party leaders, he has to first strengthen the party at the grass-roots level. Thought the district has two MLAs, when comes to strength of the party, it is too weak against the Congress and the BJP.