By Santosh Kumar Pathak
New Delhi, Aug 28 (IANS): As the tenure of the ruling BJP in Karnataka is going to end next year, the saffron party has started prepping up and is leaving no stone unturned for the state Assembly polls in 2023.
If we talk about BJP's expansion in South India, Karnataka is the first state where the saffron party had registered a win.
Taking lessons from the poll results in 2018, the BJP is putting its best foot forward.
Putting all speculations regarding the leadership change in Karnataka to rest, BJP national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh had recently said that the Assembly polls in the state next year will be fought under the leadership of Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai.
Taking note of the political situation in the state, the BJP high command had in July 2021 replaced B.S. Yediyurappa with Bommai. However, seeing Yediyurappa's organisational capability and his influence in the state, the BJP high command was aware that he cannot be ignored though.
This is the reason that even after removing Yediyurappa from the chief minister's post, the BJP gave importance to him and heard all his suggestions.
By including Yediyurappa as a member in the party's powerful and highest decision-making body, the people of Karnataka were given a message about him being important to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda.
In the members' list of BJP's parliamentary board, after Nadda, the Prime Minister, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Shah, Yediyurappa's name is on the fifth spot.
Being a member of the Parliamentary board, Yediyurappa can also be made a member of the party's Central Election Committee.
The BJP is claiming to win over 150 seats in the 2023 Assembly polls in the state and that is why the party's most popular face and star campaigner Prime Minister Modi's activism will also increase in Karnataka.
Bommai is continuously conversing with the state's electorate. The organisation is also reaching out to people with the achievements of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the state government. In the coming days, Yediyurappa is expected to tour Karnataka. The Prime Minister's events will also be scheduled in a way that he visits Karnataka at least once a month, likely from September.
After becoming a member of the BJP's Parliamentary Board, Yediyurappa on Friday came to Delhi and met Prime Minister Modi, Nadda, national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santosh and discussed Karnataka's political situation and poll strategy in detail.
Bommai's leadership, Yediyurappa organisational capability and strategy and cashing in on Prime Minister Modi's popularity are part of the BJP's strategy to win the polls.