Will BJP pick an OBC or a Vokkaliga as Leader of the Opposition?
Bengaluru
It has been a month since party observers—Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and former minister from Maharashtra, Vinod Tawade—returned to New Delhi after a two-day opinion collection of the 65 MLAs, who successfully contested on BJP ticket, on who should be made the Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, and the buzz over change in guard in the state unit after a drubbing in the recently concluded Assembly elections. The central brass, which has been left hugely disappointed and red-faced with the results, has not given time to hear the observers. Such is the sorry state of affairs in the state that the BJP gave all the ammo on a platter to the Congress to take potshots at their party MLAs at every interval, every question hour, every zero hour of the just concluded budget session.
Highly placed sources in the BJP told The Sunday Guardian that senior party leaders were least interested in Karnataka affairs and had put all decisions regarding the state on the backburner. With no signs or signals from Delhi, it took former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to open the conversation with party president J.P. Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah as he sent his son B.Y. Vijayendra with a clear message that only eight months were left for the Lok Sabha elections. “The Karnataka results did leave the party embarrassed, more so as it brought 17 Union ministers, five chief ministers, and 28 visits from Prime Minister Narendra Modi since March 2023. The party was engaged in making radical changes and had deployed B.L. Santosh and C.T. Ravi, national general secretaries to carry out the political engineering and transformation which badly backfired if the results are anything to go by. With changes done, a bad result at hand, it was time to move but for the first time in the history of Karnataka legislature a month-long session ended with an opposition leader which has now forced senior leaders to press for appointments,” said a source.
With the party now deciding to ignore senior leaders Basavarj Bommai, C.T. Ravi, Shobha Karandlaje, R. Ashok, and Basavaraj Yatnal, sources say that BJP is all set to bring younger leaders to the fore for the top two positions.
Sources said that while the top leadership is strongly thinking of giving the mantle of state presidentship to B.Y. Vijayendra, although he is a first-time MLA and the next Lingayat face of the party, the Leader of the Opposition has two contenders—Backward Class leader Sunil Kumar and Vokkaliga leader Dr C.N. Ashwathnarayan.
“Vijayendra is quite popular across the state, be it the old Mysore region, central Karnataka, or north Karnataka. Though he carries the legacy of his father, his time in CMO has come in handy as all the MLAs were in touch with him. From grassroots-level leaders to even Bommai, it was through him that they got in touch with BSY. Even though it proved that this was the very reason that the party had placated BSY, it was a rich experience for BSY junior. With general elections fast approaching, the task is cut out for whoever steps in place of Nalin Kateel, who has proved himself to be ineffective. In 2019, the party bagged 25 out of 28 MP seats with a lone independent also coming towards BJP, and this time around the Congress has come to power with a resounding victory. With formidable leaders D.K. Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah at the helm of affairs, it would be a daunting task for BJP to keep up to its last term’s numbers.”
As far as the LOP is concerned, Sunil Kumar might get a chance, sources say as he is very hands-on and hard working but he comes at the price of not giving anything to the Vokkaligas and this is where former DCM and minister C.N. Ashwathnarayan might get a look in.