BJP Chinthan Shivir to decide poll strategy

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT
Bengaluru

The BJP National General Secretary and in-charge of Karnataka Affairs, Arun Singh, arrived in Bengaluru on Thursday to take part in the ‘chinthan shivir’ (brainstorming session) to be held at a resort on the outskirts of the city on Friday.

Around 50 members, including Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai, State BJP President Nalinkumar Kateel, former CMs B.S.Yediyurappa, Jagadish Shettar and D.V.Sadananda Gowda and members of Core Committee would take part in the brainstorming session, which will take stock of the current political situation in the State.

The Opposition Congress had been holding such camps in all districts to prepare the party workers for the crucial 2023 Assembly polls. According to the CM, the shivir would focus on the strategies to be adopted to win and comeback to power, strengths and weaknesses, areas that required special focus, preparedness of the party for the polls, things to be done from the state government to create pro- BJP wave in the state and the present political situation in Karnataka.

This meeting has gained a lot of importance from the point of coming Assembly polls as it would help and understand the region that would require the special focus. The support base of the BJP has dwindled in its strongholds of Mumbai- Karnataka and Hyderabad- Karnataka region if the recent election to the State Legislative Council was of any indication.

The ruling BJP candidates lost despite their party in power. The chinthan shivir would go through various reports submitted by the district units the reasons for the declining support for the saffron party and Singh would ponder over it.

Cabinet expansion

Sources close to the CM told News Trail that the meeting would also reserve sometime on the discussion regarding the much-delayed Cabinet reshuffle or expansion which has annoyed several legislators. Bommai had been time and again explaining to the Delhi leaders the need for doing the Cabinet rejig as hardly 10 months are left for the Assembly polls.

The urgency seen by the CM in this regard was probably not understood by the high command thinking that it may create problems if all the aspirants fail to make into the Cabinet. The Delhi leaders are expected to work out a formula to keep everyone happy by accommodating them in boards and corporations. A clear picture would arrive on Friday evening, sources added.