New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka is a divided house after its 72-seat loss to the Congress in the state assembly elections, results of which were announced Saturday.
While one faction within the party has been blaming veteran party leader and former Chief Minister B.S Yediyurappa for failing to draw Lingayat votes in favour of the party, another group has been accusing the party’s national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh of faulty ticket distribution.
The outgoing BJP government in the state, led by CM Basavraj Bommai, has also been held responsible for anti-incumbency.
In a press conference Sunday, Lingayat leader V. Somanna attacked Yediyurappa said, “it should be asked to Yediurappa why Lingayat votes were divided. He is BJP’s tallest leader and Lingayat.”
The Lingayats, part of the other backward classes (OBC) in the state, are a dominant caste with considerable political clout. The BJP received 56 per cent of Lingayat votes in the Karnataka assembly elections held on 10 May, according to Centre for the Study of Developing Societies survey. Yediyurappa has been the BJP’s most prominent Lingayat faces in the state.
Meanwhile, in an opinion piece published in Indian Express Monday, BJP Karnataka spokesperson Vaman Acharya blamed the “lacklustute governance” by the outgoing BJP government and the “muck of corruption” for Saturday’s defeat.
However, the leader who has been receiving the maximum amount of flak for the BJP’s Karnataka loss is Santhosh.
The BJP national general secretary (organisation), who had been camping in Karnataka in the run-up to the elections, and played a key role in deciding ticket distribution to campaign strategy, is facing the ire of state party leaders following Saturday’s loss. Sources in Karnataka BJP also told ThePrint that there was a lot of anger against Santhosh’s core team, comprising the party’s state unit president Nalin Kumar Kateel, national general secretary C.T. Ravi and Shobha Karandlaje, who had been managing the party’s campaign in the state.
“Anti-incumbency notwithstanding, ticket distribution was one of the major factor which went against the BJP [in this election]. Many Yediyurappa supporters, who had received hints that they may not get poll tickets, switched parties to contest as Congress candidates and managed to defeat the BJP leaders pitted against them. This shows our entire survey and ticket distribution mechanism was faulty,” said a BJP candidate who lost from a north Karnataka constituency.
The leader added: “Tickets were distributed only to settle score. Normally during polls, politicians make tall claims to win state to enthuse cadre, but even after polling, Santosh’s claims of BJP winning in Karnataka shows how far he was disconnected from ground reality and was fooling even the BJP high command.”
Even as the exit polls indicated a loss for the party, Santosh had tweeted, “With due respect to all celebrity pollsters, none of them predicted 282 [seats for the party] in 2014 or 303 in 2019 [Lok Sabha elections or 156 in 2022 [Guajarat assembly] or 104 in 2018 [Karanataka assembly election]. In 2018 BJP in Karnataka led in 24k [24,000] booths, this time we will lead in 31k [31,000] booths…”.
Responding to a query on whether the loss in Karnataka has been pinned on Santosh, Union Minister and BJP leader Pralhad Joshi said it was a collective loss and not because of any one person’s failure.
Speaking to ThePrint, BJP’s north Bengaluru MP and former CM D.V. Sadanand Gowda said “there were several factors behind defeat, not only one factor. We are receiving complaints about ticket distribution and others. We will discuss all these issues in two-three days, once all candidates and winners come to meet party leaders.”
Ticket distribution was a major bone of contention ahead of the assembly elections, with much of it centered around Yediyurappa.
Yediyurappa who was removed as CM in July 2021, was inducted into the party’s Parliamentary Board last year. He was also made a member of the campaign committee ahead of the election.
Voices against Yediyurappa had gained momentum within the party after he had announced last year that his son Vijayendra will replace him as the BJP candidate in his home constituency of Shikaripur. There was also resentment in some sections over what is seen as the disproportionate favour shown by the former CM to rebels from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular), who helped him return to power in 2019.
While the BJP’s defeat in the Karnataka assembly elections has raised some doubts about his future within the party, Yediyurappa remains someone who enjoys respect among voters from not only the Lingayat community, but Dalits, Muslims and Vokkaliga (another OBC community which is a dominate caste in Karnataka).
Murmurs of a reorganisation have already started within the party, however. According to sources, names of Karandleje and state leaders Aswath Narayan and V. Sunil Kumar are doing the rounds for the post of Karnataka BJP president.
“With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, the party needs to revamp the state unit with new a set of leadership in Karnataka. Also, to play the role of opposition party in the state assembly, party needs energy in organisation and experience with aggressiveness to corner the Congress. The party may choose more energetic leaders to lead the party in assembly and organisation,” said a state functionary on condition of anonymity.
BJP Karnataka vice president Nirmal Kumar Surana, however, told the print that the party had started the exercise to find out what went wrong in Karnataka and all candidates have been asked to share their inputs, for the party to prepare a report.
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‘Comprehensive report to ensure we don’t repeat same mistake’
The first attack against Yediyuappa after the announcement of results had come from Somanna, who lost to the Congress’s Siddaramaiah from Varuna constituency. According to party sources, Somanna had not been keen to give his seat of Govindraj Nagar in Bengaluru from he had been elected in 2018, but persuaded by the central leadership to do so.
He also contested from the Chamarajanagar constituency, but lost both seats. While campaigning in Karnataka ahead of the elections, senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also sought votes for Somanna.
Somanna, a Lingayat leader, lost despite a good section of voters in both seats being from the community, leading his supporters to accuse of Yediyurappa of poll fixing, to ensure that the Congress pitted a weak leader against his son Vijayendra, to enable him to win the Shikaripura seat.
Meanwhile, in his opinion piece in Indian Express, Acharya wrote, “The BJP has to face and answer the following challenges: How can it increase its vote share and go beyond 35 per cent? How can it bring about new leadership in the state? How can the dependency on PM Modi be reduced? How can corruption be weeded out when it’s in government? How can the party be more careful in the selection of candidates? How can a sense of purpose be re-infused in the karyakartas? How can the BJP once again capture the imagination of the masses? And finally, how can the party keep from becoming complacent?”
Echoing the Karnataka BJP spokesperson’s allegations of anti-incumbency and “lack of decisive leadership” in the state, BJP leader Siddu Patil, who won from Bidar said, ”I have working in this constituency for several years. Our work protected me from anti-incumbency, but anti-incumbency was one of the reason for party defeat in other areas. People were annoyed.”
He added that “faulty ticket distribution” and the BJP’s failure to “counter Congress campaign effectively”, were the other reasons for the party’s defeat.
Some among the party also attributed “Yediyurappa’s humiliation” as one reason for the BJP’s disconnect from voters, especially those among the Lingayat community.
“His [Yediyurapp’s] tears did not go well in community,” said a former deputy chief minister and minister in the Bommai cabinet.
The former deputy CM was referring to Yediyurappa breaking down several times during his farewell speech after being forced to resign as CM.
Responding to Yediyurappa announcing his son’s name as the next candidate from his Shikaripura seat, Ravi earlier this year unleashed what appeared to have been a potshot at Yediyurappa, even though he denies it was that.
“Vijayendra is not an automatic choice to contest the Shikaripura seat vacated by Yediyurappa after he opted out of the poll race,” Ravi had said.
The former minister added: “Lingayat leaders like Jagdish Shettar and Laxman Savadi were also denied tickets [they contested as Congress candidates]. It only created resentment in community. Religious leader[from the Lingayat community] spread message to community to vote for the Congress.”
He had added: “…The decision on a candidate will not be taken in anyone’s kitchen. Nobody will get the ticket because they are somebody’s son.” The decision, he added, will be based on the winnability of a candidate.
While Ravi later clarified that his views were not directed at Vijayendra, Yediyurappa too had tried to play it down, saying, “Ravi is right, whether it’s Vijayendra or any other MLA, it is the board that will decide on ticket distribution.”
The Yediyurappa camp within the party, however, blamed Santhosh’s “faulty ticket distribution” for the party’s loss.
“Those who were sitting in office were deciding ticket distribution of those who had a finger on the pulse of people, it backfired. Kumaraswamy [former CM and Janata Dal (Secular leader] said [during campaigning] that the Brahmin lobby in BJP was working to defeat Lingayat strongman [Yediyurappa]. It resonated among the cadre on the grounds.”
As camps within the BJP continue to be engaged in a blame game, a senior member of the party’s central leadership told ThePrint that the “state leadership has been told to talk to all candidates and seek information on what led to the defeat. A comprehensive report will be prepared so that we don’t repeat the same mistake in Lok Sabha election. Role of dissidents, rebels, the Lingayat factor and ticket distribution — all will be discussed.”
While Bommai has remained active even after the defeat and is seen to be lobbying for the role of leader of opposition, retaining him in the position may be difficult for the party since it lost the elections under his leadership. Kateel, who has already completed a three-year term as state chief may also be replaced in the coming day, according to sources, as the focus of the party remains re-motivating the cadre ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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