High Stakes For BJP In Karnataka 

By S Gopinath Reddy

“It is not an ordinary election and the party workers should sacrifice sleep and comfort”. This statement from BJP president Amit Shah at a booth level workers meeting in Karnataka emphasizes how serious the BJP is about the May 12 election for 224 Assembly seats in the state.

The BJP seem to be leaving no stone unturned to win the elections, a semi-final of sorts for the 2019 general elections.

Amit Shah utilized the booth level meeting to recap how the party has grown from strength to strength from 2 Lok Sabha seats to 329 seats during the last couple of decades. “Today, we have 1780 MLAs across the country. I myself was a booth level member of the party in 1982 and today I am the party president, which can happen only in BJP,” he said trying to woo the party workers.

At the same time, he pointed out that, BJP has won elections in 14 states ever since it came to power at the Centre in 2014. “Karnataka will be the 15th state,” he exuded confidence while calling upon the party workers not to rest till Yedyurappa takes oath as the Chief Minister of the state.

On the other hand, RSS too entered the scene in support of the BJP. About 50,000 workers of the Sangh have been assigned their role. They are being allotted booths and asked to adopt the strategy they have adopted in Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

While the ground work is being prepared for garnering support of different sections, Belagavi BJP MLA Patil’s religious slur has attracted severe criticism from the Congress party. His remarks that the May 12 elections are about Hindu and Muslims and Ram Mandir, were lapped up by the Congress which has already petition to the Election Commission seeking his disqualification. There is no official reaction from the BJP on Patil’s comments yet.

On the other hand, the Congress party is trying minimize the rebellion by some party leaders who could not make it to the list of candidates. Efforts are on to douse the rebellion. With the filing of nominations nearing an end, it is more likely that the election heat will pick up in the coming days.