BJP defeat in K’taka bypolls a setback for Yeddyurappa
The Congress victory in the by-elections to two constituencies has come as a blow for BJP’s state unit chief BS Yeddyurappa, who had termed the election a “semi-final” before next year’s assembly polls.
The loss could mean trouble for Yeddyurappa, who was asked to head the BJP’s state unit in 2016 by party president Amit Shah, as dissenting voices within the BJP were getting bolder against him.
In fact, 24 BJP leaders had written a letter to Yeddyurappa, asking him to mend his ways as they felt his style of functioning was hurting the party.
While the stakes were already high in the bypolls, Yeddyurappa had made it a personal battle between him and chief minister Siddaramaiah. Yeddyurappa had called this the “semi-final” and had sought votes for the candimaiah dates by projecting it as a vote for himself as the chief ministerial candidate in the next elections.
Yeddyurappa had also seen the by-election as forming a part of his “Mission 150”, a project to win 150 seats in the 224-seat assembly in the upcoming elections.
As a part of this strategy, the BJP, and Yeddyurappa personally, had reached out to dissidents within Congress to switch sides.
Yeddyurappa was seen to have pulled off a master stroke when he managed to convince senior Congress state leader, Siddara- confidant and prominent Dalit leader V Srinivasa Prasad to join BJP. Former chief minister SM Krishna joining the BJP was seen as a blow to the Congress.
However, in both Nanjangud and Gundlupet, the BJP’s strategy seemed to have failed.
Speaking about the BJP’s plan of including dissenters, Narendar Pani, faculty at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, said: “Before any election year, there are always those who want to shift parties. However, the BJP strategy was flawed because there seems to be a generational shift in Karnataka’s politics and it chose to go with older leaders like Srinivasa Prasad and Krishna.”
Other factors, too, seem to be working against Yeddyurappa, who will turn 75 in February. “The BJP will not jeopardise its rule of not including leaders aged above 75 in government,” Sandeep Shastri, pro vice chancellor of Jain University, said.