BJP's Dr Ashwath Narayan being groomed to win Bengaluru seats

BENGALURU: With the Assembly elections and bypolls in mind, the BJP is now grooming Dr Ashwath Narayan as a major Vokkaliga leader in Bengaluru. In 2008, the party had won 16 seats out of 28 Assembly constituencies, when R Ashok was made district-in-charge minister, who went on to become Deputy CM. However, the number came down to 12 in 2013, and dropped further last year to just 11 seats. Bengaluru seats become crucial to any political party if they want to come to power. 

“Ashok, who belongs to the Vokkaliga community, did not do much, though he is one of the senior-most MLAs in Bengaluru. Even in 2015, when the BJP had more than 50 per cent presence in the BBMP council, the JDS-Congress coalition made a backdoor entry and came to power. If he had put in a little more effort, the BJP would have made its entry into the BBMP. Party seniors in Delhi are aware of this, and that’s why they decided to groom Ashwath Narayan,’’ said BJP sources. 

On Wednesday, Ashok was nowhere to be seen at the day-long Kempegowda Jayanthi celebrations, and sources said that his absence was “obvious”, as he did not want to see someone junior to him as Deputy CM.  

A senior BJP leader, on condition of anonymity, said Ashok has his own network of MLAs or councillors, whom he has a hold on. “Ashok is a prominent Vokkaliga leader, people from his community support him, but he is not appealing to the youth voters. So our party leaders might decide on an alternate leader who has a clean image, someone who can woo young, urban Vokkaliga voters. Ashwath Narayan is closely associated with many resident welfare associations, and is also IT & BT Minister, which can help in attracting young Bengaluru voters,” the leader said.