BJP fails to convert campaigns against graft, Waqf into votes

Despite the BJP going hard against the ruling Congress on the “anti-corruption” and “anti-appeasement” planks, it has failed to convert its high-pitched campaign into
votes.  

These bypolls were the first opportunity for the opposition BJP to test the effectiveness of its campaign against the ruling Congress in the wake of the Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation and the MUDA site-allotment scam and the Waqf land issue.  

BJP general secretary P Rajeev, a former lawmaker, conceded that the BJP could not mobilise Hindu votes against the Congress, whom he accused of minority  appeasement.

‘Height of appeasement’

“We saw the height of appeasement with the Congress completely bagging the votes of one section. Faced with this appeasement, we were not able to create awareness in the other section,” Rajeev said.

“In these constituencies, their numbers are more than 13%, but Congress won by a difference of only 2-3% of votes. People of the state must understand the political strategies of the Congress,” he said.  

Lack of Vokkaliga face

C P Yogeshwar’s exit has left a vacuum in the Vokkaliga leadership in the party. Perceived as traditionally weak in the old Mysore region, BJP was desperate for a Vokkaliga face in south
Karnataka. 

Though prominent Vokkaliga leaders in their own right, the influence of leader of the Opposition R Ashoka and former deputy chief minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayana are largely seen as confined to their respective constituencies.  

Ahinda fortress

These elections have also re-emphasised Siddaramaiah’s stature as the Ahinda (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) leader. The Ahinda block has solidly consolidated behind the Congress in these elections, just as in the 2023 Assembly polls.

If the BJP is to dislodge the Congress from power in the 2028 Assembly polls, it must breach Siddaramaiah’s hold over the section.

The bypolls were an opportunity for BJP state president B Y Vijayendra to cement his leadership. But the rout left him open for further attacks from within, and the first salvo came from his bete noire Basanagouda Patil
Yatnal.

“He knows whether the people of the state have accepted his leadership or not. We are upset with this drubbing. We hadn’t expected it. Let the high command stop its fascination about this sacred father (Yediyurappa) and sacred son (Vijayendra) at least now,” he said.