BSY back but will that suffice for BJP?
Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yediyurappa is back in the saddle – not as CM but as the mascot of the ruling BJP in Karnataka after the party high command virtually bowed before him elevating the former CM to the BJP parliamentary board, its top decision making body.
The BJP hardly had an option with incumbent CM Basavaraj Bommai coming under attack from all quarters including his cabinet colleagues for failing to measure up to the huge expectations he had generated when asked to take over as CM in July last year. The capital city, Bengaluru, is going to pieces with broken roads, uncleared garbage and drains, infra projects overshooting deadlines all the time and traffic reduced to a crawl. Those who voted for the saffronists in 2018 giving them more than a hundred seats, had expected clean governance but that has not happened with the 40% commission charge for civic projects rattling even the BJP top brass in Delhi. Communal polarisation and political murders have taken the sheen off the image of a state once known for its peaceful ambience.
Yediyurappa’s comeback has been welcomed by his colleagues in the BJP and most of all Bommai who looked quite relieved after the decision was announced. The CM knows he is no pan-Karnataka icon like BSY who can whip up sentiments in favour of his party, court the Lingayat mutts and make sure they wield their influence in favour of the BJP. Bommai would be more than happy to play second fiddle to BSY in the run-up to the polls, so he will not have to bear the blame if the party fares poorly at the hustings.
That brings up a pertinent question: is it going to be that easy for the BJP to sweep the polls just because BSY will be leading the charge in 2023? The Congress and JD(S) are sure to rework their strategies to face up to the Lingayat community strongman who has enough corruption and nepotism charges arraigned against him ever since he first became CM in 2008. Refurbishing its image in the 8-9 months left for polls is not going to be easy for the BJP, which has hardly anything to show on its platter as far as developmental initiatives and popular schemes are concerned. Dissent in the ruling party has touched an all-time high with ministers – who were earlier in the JD(S) and Congress – sparring in public, tarnishing the government’s image like never before. Speculation has it that many of them – sensing that the popular mood is turning against the BJP – are waiting to jump ship to secure their poll prospects.
Going by current trends, it is highly unlikely that the BJP will be able to cross the 104 seats it won in 2018 even if BSY throws his full weight behind the campaign.
An ageing mascot and a ruling party driven by differences would be the ideal setting for the Congress to make a determined push for power. In fact, BSY’s elevation has unexpectedly given a fillip to the prospects of Siddaramaiah leading the Congress into the poll arena as the party is unlikely to pit a much younger state Congress chief DK Shivakumar against BSY, which could prove counter-productive.
Yediyurappa’s elevation and the clout he commands among the Lingayats means the Congress will have to tie up the loose ends and present a united front against the BJP. The scene still looks pretty hazy but one thing’s for sure – there is no state where the Congress stands a better chance of grabbing power other than Karnataka, unless of course it shoots itself in the foot