BJP top brass directs state leaders to get cracking with budget, poll campaign

BENGALURU: With an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP central leadership has turned its attention on Karnataka, the party’s gateway to the south, so that it can ramp up its presence in the four other southern states.

With senior leader B S Yediyurappa now taking the backseat and no other credible mas leader in the state, senior national leaders of the party will descend on the state in the third week of February in the run-up to the Assembly election.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, party national president Jagat Prakash Nadda and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will lead the charge, the party’s local strategists will lay out the roadmap.

At the concluding day of the party’s national executive meeting in Delhi, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, state BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel and other leaders met the PM and were told to heighten the pace of campaigning.

The leaders were advised to take up intensive campaigning after the upcoming Assembly session, to present a pro-people budget and to ensure that the benefits of the schemes reach intended beneficiaries. The state leaders are believed to have expressed confidence that the party will win with a convincing majority in the upcoming polls.

The party is also worried about the dependence of leaders in different states on the Modi factor and complacency on their part. The thinking is that this may weaken the organisation at the cadre level.

Karnataka, with 25 MPs from BJP, will go to polls after Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland. Five other states — Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana will witness Assembly polls ahead of the Lok Sabha election in 2024 and the BJP wants to leave nothing to chance.

Party national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh is scheduled to preside over a meeting of senior state leaders including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, state president Nalin Kumar Kateel, former CM B S Yediyurappa and several others on January 20 to discuss campaign strategies, organising roadshows, budget announcements, selection of candidates for the 224 Assembly seats, among other issues.

Meanwhile, the party is also holding the national executive of the Mahila Morcha on January 20 and 21 at Tumakuru wherein national level office-bearers and those from all the 37 units in the state will participate. The meeting will be presided over by Mahila Morcha national president Vanathi Srinivasan. A bike rally will be organised to mark the inauguration.