By Siddhartha
Bengaluru: The gloing is getting tough for Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka. The aggressive ride of the electoral juggernaut of a hitherto invincible Saffron party is confronting multiple hurdles that could possibly dishearten its overestimated electoral expectations in the ensuing state assembly polls.
The sudden quitting of a good number of senior l party leaders has landed the BJP in an unprecedented dilemma. Since the announcement of the assembly election, over 72 senior leaders of the party, including its former chief minister Jagdish Shettar and another deputy chief minister have jumped the ship and joined the rival Congress party. These developments instil the impression within the electorate that all is not well within the BJP which has been seen as a cohesive and invincible political force that always was a nightmare to its political opponents.
According to party insiders, the discontent within the state BJP has been swimming, thanks to the some little or hardly experience, political novice gaining extra prominence and powerful positions in the party. Inexperienced youths like Tejaswi Surya who is known for his inflammatory and vitriolic public outbursts have upset most of the top state party leaders including BJP veterans Yadiyurappa and Jagdish Shettar. Surya, a close confidence of BJP National General Secretary B L Santosh, was in 2019 election given a lok sabha ticket which was decided for the widow of Ananthakumar, the leader who contributed to build up BJP in Karnataka.
Santhosh, an RSS pracharak leased to BJP, has in the recent past been trying to establish his fiefdom in state party. His distractors accuse that Santos, a Brahmin from Costal Karnataka “has been trying to promote people from his cast at the expense of other non-Brahmins and this has created visible discontent within the party and among the workers”.
According to a senior journalist from Bengaluru, “the decision to make Tamil Nadu BJP chief Annamalai in charge of Karnataka election is also not well received by the state party unit.” Annamalai, a former IPS officer resigned from service and joined the saffron brigade a couple of years back, He also possesses the blessings of the all-powerful BJP national general Secretary.
Like Surya, Annamalai has also often hit the headline for making inflammatory outbursts. A month ago this former IPS officer was booked by Tamil Nadu Police on charges of “promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, and language.” A native of Karur in Tamil Nadu, Annamalai was a 2011-batch Karnataka-cadre officer and quit service in May 2019 and joined the saffron party.
Many feel that the newly found young saffron warriors are doing more electoral harm to the BJP than its political rivals. “Primarily it is not the allegations of corruption that is working against the BJP in power. The increased degree of hate speeches and false narratives by its vitriolic warriors has created dis- enchantment even among the hard-core supporters of the party.”
While Shettar blames Santosh “playing divisive politics and favouritism ” within the party to entrench his supremacy, another supporter of the BJP said ” Santosh has been cautiously promoting a bunch of Hindutva hardliners, like Tejaswi Surya, Nalin Kumar Kateel, C.T. Ravi, land others. In recent times, these leaders, known for making frequent Isalmophobic and polarising comments, have been emboldened by the top leadership of the party, much to the displeasure of the Yediyurappa camp, which takes credit for building the party’s organisation in Karnataka by consolidating different social groups and, crucially, by staying at an arm’s length from Hindutva issues.”
Many BJP loyalists opine the increasing rift and bitterness between old guards like Yadiyurappa and the Santosh has jeopardizing party’s electoral prospects in the ensuing assembly elections.
Expressing his deep concern on ”internal power struggle” Within the that is draining its image and electoral prospects as well an RSS vetran lamented” The BJP has been lauded for its disciplined, cadre-based organisation elsewhere, but here in Karnataka infighting is at its all-time high. Friction in the state BJP ranks has shown itself on a daily basis, with one or other BJP leaders openly castigating the other. It is widely known that the Karnataka BJP is divided into two bitter factions – one led by the BJP’s national general secretary B.L. Santosh and the other by Yediyurappa.”
Unfortunately the national leadership either failed to contain the factional feud or conveniently ignored the situation for reasons best known to them, said a local parry worker from Bengaluru.
“Instead of leaving the leaders at their will Modiji or Shaji should have intervened and contained the damage which they did not. An agency known for its affinity to the right-wing political groups in its recent poll survey predicts comfortable victory for Congress in Karnata, despite the grand old party facing multiple crises. It’s star campaigner Rahul Gandhi being convicted on a defamation case and ousted out the Loksabha and being evicted from his official residence in Delhi.
Though the BJP argues that Rahul was convicted by the court and his losing Parliament membership and official residence was an aftermath of the verdict. “Neither the BJP, nor the Modi Government has anything to do with Rahul losing his house or MP position.”
However, even the hard critics of Congress and the Gandhis do not approve the diction to disqualify Rahul from Loksabha and evict his official residence in Delhi. “The decisions (on Rahul Gandhi) have proved to be a shot in the arm for Congress and a body blow for an already embattled BJP. The party should not have taken this hasty step, for people see it as an act of political vendetta despite all explanations and justifications.”
He seems to be correct. Interestingly, Rahul’s election rally in Karnata on Sunday, which he addressed the next day his official residence at Delhi was taken aback by the administration, witnessed a sea of humanity, observed a journalist reporting the election campaign in Karnataka. “The visuals of Rahul, along with his sister Priyanka closing the doors of his official residence for 19 years and surrendering the key to the officials was touching and went viral. It has created an emotional impact which is likely to reflect in the minds of the voters.”
A retired public servant who has been an vocal supporter of the BJP ” It’s definite posture against corruption” Is peeved at the party for trying to “placate and plead with corrupt leaders just for votes”, He was referring to the incident of PM Modi personally making phone calls to former Karnataka Deputy CM Eswarappa, who had to quit the cabinet on severe corruption and bribery charges, requesting to campaign for the party.
Eswarappa had declared his decision to retire from active politics knowing the party mood not to give him or his near and dear tickets to contest assembly poll. “Na khaunga, na khane dunga’ Modi had said and now he is pampering the corrupt for electoral gains.”
There is increased perception that “The Karnataka Assembly election will test if PM Mod’s larger than life image can salvage the BJP. “The party, as a winning strategy, has been trying to build a communally polarised electorate, but this strategy has limitations in southern states like Karnataka where literacy and political awareness dominate electoral outcomes. In fact Modi magic did not yield in the 2018 election in the state. “However, many who considered BJP as “Party with a Difference” are increasingly disappointed at its “Ideological degeneration”.
However, for the BJP and its omnipotent top leadership “it’s the battle to validate its supremacy both in terms of power and legitimacy. An electoral reversal in Karnataka, as many political pundits perceive, could not only impact the assembly polls in over half a dozen states due this year, but cool cast clouds on the winning magic of the top leadership of the saffron party.
