Camps, ageing BSY, an unresponsive state president, shadow boxing have party in a pickle.
Bengaluru: For the last decade-and-a-half, Karnataka has been the one and only productive hunting ground for the BJP in South India. The last Lok Sabha elections saw 25 MPs out of 28 from BJP being elected from the state. The credit was equally shared by state and central BJP.
Narendra Modi at the Centre as Prime Minister and Yediyurappa in state, everything was hunky-dory. Cut to present. Several camps in the saffron party; ageing Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa; an ineffective state president Navin Kateel, and uncertainties surrounding the next Assembly elections…the central BJP seems to have its task cut out as bitter politics plays out behind the smokescreen.
The political conundrum seems to be growing by the day as the void between the party and government is only getting wider. Things started going southwards for Yediyurappa after B.L. Santosh, the latter’s nemesis, was appointed as National General Secretary of the BJP. The first blow came when Nalinkumar Kateel was appointed as the state unit president.
The three-time MP from coastal Karnataka is unpopular in the ranks of the party and is perceived to be front man of “Santoshji” who looks to Delhi all the time for instructions. Even as he completes one year, he has hardly made an impact on partymen, voters and even the media. “He is just doing the job of a hit-man. Recently, over 25 MLAs and MPs have met BSY complaining against his style of functioning. As state unit head, he is supposed to lift the morale of party workers, meet and greet them and turn them into a strong political force. Perhaps, he should take a lesson or two from D.K. Shivkumar who has already made all the right noises even before formally taking over the reins of the Congress in Karnataka,” said a source in the party who has many tasks assigned to him in the Bengaluru party office for decades.
As Covid-19 wreaked havoc across the globe, containment took centre stage and politics back-stage. For the last three months, the state has won accolades from the Union government for the manner in which the pandemic was handled. But even as the BSY camp heaved a sigh of relief, the Rajya Sabha elections were notified, which gave momentum to the anti-BSY camp to resume their attack.
In the run-up to the Rajya Sabha elections, there were several dinner meetings which rattled B.S. Yediyurappa, then came the nomination of two party workers who were unheard of. Political pundits call this a masterstroke by B.L. Santosh as those who would oppose these nominations will be termed selfish and anti-cadre. This round was won by BLS as BSY knew that the time was not ripe to hit back as MLC elections were round the bend and it was crucial for him to get nominations for M.T.B. Nagraj and R. Shankar, two Congressmen who had vaulted to BJP. The turncoats did get nomination and BSY was back in the game.
However, these are seen as nothing less than shadow boxing and the camaraderie was just a show even as camps in the state unit are busy for the next bout.
To simply lay out the pawns on the checkered boxes of this chess game, there is B.S. Yediyurappa, the Lingayat strongman, and then there is central BJP, which is represented by B.L. Santhosh. While BSY is desperately trying to hold ground and survive the day, BLS is on the offensive, preparing the ground to elbow out BSY from the board.
While the old guard—R. Ashok, Somanna, Basavaraj Bommai, Govind Karjol and several others are behind B.S. Yediyurappa, there are many fence sitters like B. Sriramulu, Ashwath Narayan, Jagadish Shettar, K.S. Eshwarappa. The 15 ministers who got a fresh lease of life after crossing over to BJP back BSY, but don’t have much say in government or party affairs. However, the Trojan horses invented by the BLS camp are a dozen Lingayat leaders from North Karnataka led by Basvaraj Yatnal and Murgesh Nirani, who were left out of the Cabinet.
“These MLAs have their knives out against BSY. There won’t be backlash if they succeed as they are also from the same community that BSY belongs to and this is one of the approaches of the BLS camp. But these are Covid times and not the right time to poke the bear. The transition won’t be easy, but these political maneuverings are inevitable, if the party is serious about succession anytime soon. The next Assembly elections are just two years away and they don’t have much time left,” said a party sympathizer on the condition of anonymity.