Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network – Bangaluru (EP)

Bengaluru, Feb 12: BJP has suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of AAP in Delhi in the just-concluded Delhi Assembly elections, but if you thought BJP leaders in the state are disappointed about their party's performance, you are wrong. If reports are to be believed, there is a lot more than what meets the eye, and though state BJP leaders may have shown some consternation on the outside, there is said to be a feeling of sadistic joy within.

As per some media reports, the state BJP leaders were vexed with the national leadership led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. It is learnt that the BJP high command in Delhi was actually controlling the BJP leaders in the state without giving much importance to their opinions and desires. The leaders in the state had not liked such attitude. Hence, some leaders in the state are said to be secretly happy with the party's debacle and have even expressed so to each other. No one, however, has dared to acknowlege this publicly.

The result has shown that the actions by the leaders in Delhi may not always be correct. It is not just in Karnataka, but in other states too, where party leaders had no choice but to toe the line.

During one of his visits to the state, Amit Shah had indicated that more opportunities would be given to youngsters in the party. This had angered senior leaders in the state, but the BJP's stunning victory in the Lok Sabha elections helped tide over things and the matter never gained much importance. As Modi-Shah juggernaut continued sweeping other states, anxiety over being sidelined deepened further in Karnataka.

However, the loss in Delhi seems to have rekindled hopes in the state leaders of finally being noticed. The momentum with which the party was surging ahead seems to have slowed down, and BJP leaders in the state hope that their opinions would be valued, their concerns addressed and their feelings understood. They hope that the central leadership would have learnt a valuable lesson from the Delhi debacle, that local leaders need to be given importance if the party has to prosper.

Even if Modi and Amit Shah fail to see this view, the state leaders feel that the defeat in Delhi has boosted their own importance in the party, which in turn has been the cause for the alleged secret joy.

At one time, the party was an amalgamation of leaders from various states, and its foothold in different states was built brick-by-brick. But ever since the Lok Sabha elections, BJP has become all about central leadership alone, feel the state leaders.

Contradicting its own tradition of announcing BJP chief ministerial candidates before the Assembly elections, the party chose to fight the elections in Maharashtra and Haryana without CM candidates, and instead rode high on its popularity and the Modi wave. This is something that its leaders could not digest, and hence the Delhi results have given reason for some of the party leaders to smirk.