NEW DELHI: Ahead of the Assembly election in Karnataka, the only southern state where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power, the saffron party has decided to throw in all it has got into the poll campaign and reach the helm for the second consecutive term.
According to highly placed sources in the BJP, party chief JP Nadda has called all national general secretaries of the party to meet in the national capital in the first week of April. The sources said that the BJP has also decided to deploy BJP leaders from the neighbouring states (Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra) into poll-bound Karnataka. “Apart from it, a meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) is also likely to take place around April 5-6 to finalise the candidates’ list”, the source said.
He said that BJP is also planning carpet bombing in Karnataka. “The names of 40 star campaigners have also been decided. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Goa CM Pramod Sawant, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and several Union ministers like Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman have been included in the list. All have been asked to give two weeks’ time in the poll-bound state”, he added.
The source said that Yediyurappa will play a cardinal role as a star campaigner for the party. In the 224-member Assembly, the BJP has 119 MLAs in Karnataka, but this time, 40 per cent of the tickets of existing MLAs will be changed. The party will contest the polls alone and will not forge a pact with Janata Dal (Secular).
Also, the BJP will fight the entire election with PM Modi’s face and on the development model of the double-engine government. “We will tell the people of Karnataka that these roads, hospitals, overbridges have been built by the BJP government and the benefits of the central government’s schemes will also be publicised. The BJP will tell the people of Karnataka that for development in the state, there should be a double-engine government”, the source said.
“Tje BJP’s biggest star campaigner PM Modi’s election tour will start from April 8 to 10, when he will visit Bandipur National Park in Mysuru”, he added.
The Election Commission of India announced the schedule for the Karnataka Assembly election on March 29. The polling will take place in a single phase on May 10 and the counting of votes will be on May 13. (ANI)