For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the outcome of the Karnataka assembly election has underlined the importance of strong state leadership and a political narrative that can override anti-incumbency and administrative lapses that fuel public anger.
On Saturday, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and Karnataka BJP president Nalin Kateel took responsibility for the party’s defeat in the state, but senior party leaders who spoke on condition of anonymity said the decision to center the election campaign around national issues was flawed as was the call to rely heavily on national leaders.
“The PM (Narendra Modi) is the most popular face of the BJP and acts as a force multiplier, but in the state elections, we are increasingly relying on him and union ministers instead of strengthening the local leadership. The other mistake was not tackling the local issues that the Opposition used to their advantage,” said a senior party leader.
BJP leaders are also divided over the choice of Basavaraj Bommai as chief minister to replace BS Yediyurappa, the party’s most formidable leader in the state.
The leader pointed to the party’s experience in Himachal Pradesh where it attempted to steer the election campaign to broader issues and lost since it was confronted with the Congress which promised sops such as free units of electricity and reverting to the old pension scheme.
A section of party leaders in Karnataka, however, complained that party did overlook senior leaders and ignore feedback from the party and RSS cadre. “When the tickets were decided, and several old hands dropped, there was unrest within the party unit. Many leaders felt that the central leadership, particularly, national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh’s writ ran large,” said a second leader.
Former CM Jagadish Shettar who was denied a ticket publicly blamed Santhosh and said he pushed for his protégé Mahesh Tenginkai to contest from the Hubballi-Dharwad seat.
“There has been simmering discontent against Kateel; and many leaders in the state wanted the central leadership to replace him ahead of the elections. They feel Santhosh vetoed that suggestion as well,” the second leader said.
Even though the central leadership tried to scotch differences in the state unit, Saturday’s results have again shone light on the bickering among leaders who disagreed on various issues including the political discourse.
“A section of party leaders was not in favour of attempts to polarise. They did not approve of leaders such as CT Ravi, BC Nagesh stoking controversies with their comments about wearing hijab and love jihad. They felt such issues would fail to mobilise the Hindu votebank as hardline Hindutva does not resonate in the state,” the first leader said.