Survey report shocks saffron brigade

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru: A recent survey has not brought much cheer for the ruling BJP with the figures still in favour of the Congress Party which has left party leaders worried.

According to this survey, the BJP is likely to win only 60-70 seats while the Congress may forge ahead with 90-110 seats and the JD(S) may be left with 20-25 seats. Others are likely to bag 5 -10 seats in the 224 member Assembly. Some reputed agencies have been appointed to survey all 224 Assembly constituencies to understand the pulse of voters.

The exercise has been going on for the last six months and going by the indications, the popularity graph of the BJP is on the decline which has forced Delhi leaders to adopt new strategies to woo voters.They feel even the Jan Sankalp Yatra by CM Bommai and his team has not yielded the desired results nor has the hike in reservation for SC/ST communities benefitted the saffron party in any manner.

As a result, state leaders are banking heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his oratory to attract voters to the BJP as the polls approach. In the 2018 Assembly election, Modi’s ‘10 percent commission Sarkar’ jibe came in handy for the BJP to attack the Siddaramaiah government and helped the BJP cross the 100-seat mark.

The then ruling party, the Congress could win only 70 seats and the JD(S) was restricted to 40. The ruling BJP is facing a similar predicament to what the Congress faced in the 2018 Assembly polls, due to corruption charges.

With the Assembly polls expected to be held during the first or second week of May, the BJP has realised that its prospects look pretty dim in South Karnataka, Central Karnataka, and Kalyana Karnataka and so party leaders are planning to focus more on these regions in the days to come.