BJP's South push with Karnataka polls in mind

Tribune News Service

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, April 7

Ahead of the BJP’s April 9 central election committee meeting to decide on Karnataka candidates, senior minister and Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi on Friday said the saffron party was well on course to “form the government on its own in the southern state”.

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Speaking to The Tribune today, Joshi said “no one can stop the Congress from dreaming, but the fact remains that the Congress will not cross the halfway mark in the state Assembly”.

In the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, the winning side must secure 113 seats, a tall order considering the state has thrown up hung verdicts in four of the past five elections.

Joshi said the BJP had made ground preparations for the May 10 elections and ensured the fruits of government schemes reached all beneficiaries.

The BJP’s ongoing foundation day celebrations that began yesterday and will end on April 14 will focus intensively on Karnataka, which consists of 35 per cent OBCs.

The BJP cadres are, meanwhile, already attacking the Congress as anti-OBC after Rahul Gandhi’s conviction in a defamation case involving remarks against Modis, who are part of backward classes in many states. “OBCs constitute a major segment in every state and nearly 60% of the national population. Their insult is unacceptable,” BJP OBC Morcha chief K Laxman said, adding that the party was reaching village homes across Karnataka with the “insult Rahul heaped on the backwards”. Apart from OBC outreach and focus on the Central and state governments’ “all-inclusive development”, the BJP campaign plans to hammer the Congress’ “closeness to the SDPI and the PFI”, and the party’s factionalism.

“The Congress can do anything to win elections. Their support for anti-national forces like the PFI and the SDPI to secure the Muslim vote will cost them dearly. People will teach them a lesson,” Joshi said. The BJP in Karnataka will also harp on top Congress leaders jumping ship as a signal of Congress’ decline.

“Yesterday, the son of former Defence Minister Anil Antony joined the BJP. Today, former Andhra Pradesh CM Kiran Reddy joined. Congress leaders have themselves lost faith in the Congress and are associating with the BJP’s development politics,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, a key Karnataka BJP strategist, said.

On the BJP’s prospects and delay in ticket declaration, Joshi said the BJP was an organised party, which knew when to do what. “The list is expected on April 9, but more than the list, the preparation is important,” he said. The BJP, which emerged the single largest party in Karnataka in 2018, lost the chance to form the government after the Congress and the JDS allied. A year later, however, defections from the Congress and the JDS led to the formation of the BJP government.

This year, the JDS’ stance of publicly distancing from the Congress is providing the BJP comfort with pollsters not ruling out another hung verdict.

Hung verdicts in 4 of past five polls

• In the 224-member Assembly, the winning side must secure 113 seats
• It’s a tall order as state has thrown up hung verdicts in 4 of past 5 polls
• In 2018, the BJP had won 104 seats, the Congress 78 and the JDS 37

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