Despite third wave looming, BJP plans rallies in 24 Karnataka districts

Even while the state government is tightening safety measures in a bid to prevent a third wave of Covid-19 infections — there has been an uptick in fresh cases in some districts, notably Dakshina Kannada in the past couple of weeks — the state unit of the BJP has decided to organise public rallies as part of its outreach programme.
The Janashirvada programme is aimed at MPs who were recently inducted into the Union council of ministers to the people. Party functionaries led by the four new Union ministers from Karnataka, will traverse 24 districts in four divisions and will hold public meetings from August 16 to 19. Incidentally, weekend curfew imposed by the state government in eight districts as a preventive measure against Covid, is effective till August 16.
BJP office bearers said the newly inducted ministers — Bhagawanth Khuba, Shobha Karandlaje, Rajeev Chandrashekhar and A Narayanaswamy — will lead four teams which will hold rallies in Kalyana-Karnataka, coastal Karnataka and Mumbai-Karnataka besides Bengaluru. The plan is to cover two districts every day.
Captain Ganesh Karnik, state BJP spokesperson, said the programme is a nationwide initiative and not a decision of the BJP Karnataka unit alone.
He justified conducting such rallies amid such trying circumstances, saying opposition parties are not allowing the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha — both democratically elected houses — to conduct business.
“Even though there are major issues which need democratic deliberations and detailed discussion, the opposition has set a bad precedent in Parliament by not allowing the introduction of new ministers,” Karnik said. “These rallies will be held to protest anti-democratic policies of Congress and other opposition parties and are aimed at introducing new ministers to the nation.”
Eranna Kadadi, Rajya Sabha MP, told ToI disruptions by the opposition are making it difficult for the government to convey recent propeople policies. “Hence, it is necessary for the party to reach both the general public and the cadre as well,” he said. “These new ministers are grass root workers of the party and their elevation is a big example.”
On the question of the timing of the event, Kadadi said keeping the pandemic in mind, the party may hold small public meetings as against mega rallies it had initially planned.
However, Ashok Chandaragi, a political analyst from Kalyana-Karnataka, said the event is poorly timed.
“As a responsible party, the organisation should not hold any public gatherings at least till December,” Chandaragi said. “The fear of a third wave still looms large, and the state government itself has imposed curbs in various districts.”