Cabinet reshuffle takes back seat as BJP kicks into election mode

BENGALURU: Aspirants hoping to make it to chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s council of ministers will have to wait longer as BJP is set to get busy with a series of elections – to the Rajya Sabha and legislative council – announced by the Election Commission.
Polls to seven legislative council seats from the assembly quota will be held on June 3, while polls to four seats to the Rajya Sabha are slated for June 10. Legislative council elections from teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies will be held on June 13.
While a loss in these elections will not destabilise the government, a win is key for several other reasons. “BJP has decided to focus on the elections and keep the exercise of cabinet expansion or reshuffle at bay till such time,” said BJP state general secretary N Ravikumar.
Besides this, the government has a fresh problem on hand as it may have to hold Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and elections to zilla and taluk panchayats even as it is desperately looking to buy time.
These elections to local bodies are way overdue, with BBMP polls being postponed for two years now on one pretext or another. However, now that the Supreme Court has ordered states to conduct these elections within two weeks from May 10 — without providing reservation for other backward classes (OBCs) — the Karnataka government is trying to seek more time from the apex court so that it can ensure a quota for the largest group in the state’s electorate.
These factors have also forced the chief minister to postpone his scheduled tour to Europe next week.
“The priority is to prepare for a series of elections that have been announced and also prepare a case before the Supreme Court seeking more time to conduct elections to local bodies,” said DK Aruna, BJP national secretary in charge of Karnataka. “The party will take up other issues at a later stage.”
A meeting of the BJP core committee scheduled for Saturday will dwell on these issues and participants will also shortlist candidates for the elections.
Winning as many seats as possible in the legislative council elections is key for BJP since it must secure a majority in the upper house to push contentious bills including the anticonversion law.
At present, BJP has 37 MLCs — one short of a majority in the 75-member legislative council — and the party is hoping to take it to 40 without have to deal with hassles like cross-voting.
While a party needs 30 votes in the assembly to win a seat in the council, the BJP, with 122 MLAs, can win four seats. Of the four seats from teachers’ and graduates’ constituencies, it is hoping to win at least three.
While a party needs 46 votes in the assembly to win a seat in the Rajya Sabha, the BJP is certain to win two and is likely to reach an understanding for the third seat with JD(S), which has 32 MLAs.