Bengaluru: The BJP in Karnataka has welcomed the Supreme Court verdict that has upheld the disqualification of Karnataka’s rebel MLAs but also allowed them to contest the 5 December bypolls.
However, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa now faces the challenge of ensuring their victory — if the rebels don’t win at least seven seats, it may upset the BJP’s maths and push the state towards a fresh election.
“It is a very balanced verdict. Now the responsibility is on the shoulders of those leaders who will be given tickets to ensure wins in their respective constituencies,” BJP spokesperson Malavika Avinash told ThePrint.
“It is up to them to uphold the trust and responsibility that the party high command has entrusted in them,” she said.
An official in the chief minister’s office (CMO) described the bypolls as “one of Yediyurappa’s biggest challenges”.
“In the present situation, Yediyurappa will have to ensure that at least 8-10 seats out of the 15 are won by the BJP. Only then can he keep this government safe,” the official said.
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The numbers
The Supreme Court verdict pertains to 17 rebel MLAs of the Congress and the JD(S).
But only 15 are slated for elections on 5 December as two of the seats are locked in a case at the Karnataka High Court since the assembly election last year.
Yediyurappa has braved pressure from within the party to stand his ground on fielding the rebels as BJP candidates in the upcoming polls. BJP leaders who were contenders to the posts have been mollified with posts in corporations and boards.
The total seat count of the Karnataka assembly stands at 224. With 17 MLAs disqualified, the current strength of the assembly is at 207 seats. The Congress and the JD(S) have 66 and 34 legislators, respectively, while the BJP has 106, including an Independent. The House also has a BSP MLA.
The BJP needs at least seven of the seats headed for bypolls to form a stable government.
Waiting for official nomination
With just over 20 days to go until the bypolls, the party will now launch its campaign full throttle.
An internal assessment has led the BJP to identify seven of the 15 seats that are likely to prove a tough challenge for the party. They are Hunsur, Kagwad, K.R. Pete, Yeshwanthpur, Hoskote, Ranibennur and Shivajinagar.
“These are traditionally non-BJP seats and most of the voters are Congress or JD(S) loyalists,” said a senior BJP official.
“Getting them to shift their support to the BJP will be a big task and that is where the popularity of Yediyurappa, his governance in the last 100 days and the BJP influence in the state will be tested,” the official added.
Local leaders, irrespective of party lines, said the SC judgment had sent out a strong message to all parties — not only is it a rap on the knuckles for parties involved in horse-trading, they said, it is also a lesson to legislators who believe they will win elections on the ticket of one party and then resign to join another under the lure of ministership.
The Congress and the JD(S) say the judgment has vindicated their allegation that the Yediyurappa government is built on the “illegal acts” of the rebels.
“If the BJP gives tickets to these disqualified MLAs, it means acceptance that they have formed this government based on the illegal and unconstitutional acts of these rebels,” Karnataka Congress chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said.
“If they have any morality in them, they should not field them,” Rao added.
The rebel MLAs, whose resignation helped bring down the erstwhile Congress-JD(S) government this July, are waiting for official nomination from the BJP.
Rebel Congress MLA Roshan Baig said now that the SC decision is being viewed as a balanced one, he is awaiting the “green signal” from the BJP high command on ticket allocation.
Baig, a long-term Congressman, shifted to the BJP amid “irreconcilable differences” with the party.
“I am still very upset with the Congress and I am now with the BJP. They criticised and ridiculed me when I made a statement (on the day of the Supreme Court’s Ram Janmabhoomi verdict) that I will be ready to go to Ayodhya and help build the temple,” he told ThePrint. “They took a similar stand later that evening. It only has further upset our relationship.”
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