Bengaluru: The Congress party has for the first time picked up an issue that can damage BJP’s ‘all virtues no decay’ image. Congress General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala made his first visit after Jagadish Shettar joined Congress and said Shettar will boost the chances of the Congress party in the Lingayat belt.
“B. S. Yediyurappa has lost his steam with the Lingayat community,” Surjewala told.
“The BJP’s race for CM has more than ten candidates. Murugesh Nirani, Shobha Karandlaje, Pralhad Joshi, C. T. Ravi, and a few others.”
Whoever claimed that the BJP’s top leadership was above the desire for power must examine the lengthy field of candidates for the coveted position of Chief Minister. Recall that from 2008 to 2013, there were three Chief Ministers in one term: BSY, Jagadish Shettar, and Sadananda Gowda. This actually cost the party the majority in the 2013 elections. There were still two Chief Ministers in the state in 2018 when the BJP took office, BSY and Basavaraj Bommai.
The party’s central leadership did not take kindly to this. Amit Shah had chastised and even warned the state leadership to clean house because the party does not like to form governments in the states using purchased Human Resources.
While Siddaramiah and D. K. Shivakumar’s battle for the position of Chief Minister in late 2021 or early 2022 was covered by the party’s social media blitzkrieg, its own house the BJP has more candidates than the Congress for the position within the party’s inner circles, despite the fact that there is no public indication of this intense movement. The count includes Basanagouda Patil Yathnal, C. T. Ravi, Murugesh Nirani, Nalin Kumar Kateel, Basavaraj Bommai, Sunil Kumar and somewhere down the line is also Vijendra son of BSY. But over and above this list is the name of Ananth Kumar Hegade, MP from Uttara Kannada. Whether or not they will have a open slug fest in the coming days, but the party surely may not so easily put somebody on the throne.
In Kalyana Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka, the prominent Lingayat leader Basanagouda Patil has developed a following among the cadres and second line leaders. He once made remarks that were critical of his own party, which led to trouble for the BJP Government, the first BJP Government in the South.
Strong Vokkaliga leader Ravi, who is also a rising RSS cadre, is keeping his cards close to his chest. He also wears a halo because he left his role as minister and went on to work for the party in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Nalin Kumar Kateel did not even advance to the MLA level after leaving the ABVP cadres before becoming an MP.
Sunil Kumar MLA from Karkala is known to be a hardcore RSS card holder and man bigwigs of RSS are backing him to the Chief Minister’s post.
Ananth Kumar Hegade, a fiery leader of the RSS who has served as a two-time union minister, three times as an MP, and four times as an MP, shocked all of these leaders by declaring his intention to run from Kumta. He created the storyline that reads, “I don’t want votes from minorities to win. It is better not to win if I am unable to win with Hindu votes. Numerous BJP leaders have heard this story, and it occasionally pops up in the state. Basavaraj Bommai is an alternative, though.”
The official BJP election campaign material, the promo material that has recently surfaced, depicts Bommai alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the slogan “Mathomme Bommai” (Bommai once more in Kannada). The campaign to get Bommai to post again in 2023 has already gained traction thanks to a series of links on social media and YouTube. The campaign’s Twitter handle was widely publicised, but Narendra Modi never brought up the campaign in his speeches in Shivamogga, Belagavi, or Mandya, suggesting that it may not yet be simple to pitch ideas directly to a Chief Minister.
The Congress party also has created a narrative that the identity of Karnataka is being threatened and BJP is ignoring it. Even though the Maharashtra Government has implemented a health scheme in 800 villages of Karnataka, it has turned a blind eye. Amit Shah’s attack on the Nandini brand which is the lifeline of Karnataka farmers has also not moved the Karnataka government which can have long-lasting effect on Karnataka politics.