Unable to topple Cong-JD(S) coalition govt, Karnataka BJP leaders hesitant to face Amit Shah

Bengaluru, Oct 5: As all their efforts to topple the chief minister H D Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JD(S) coalition of Karnataka proved futile, the BJP leaders in the state appear to be jittery ahead of the visit of their national supremo Amit Shah.

Besides, the State BJP leadership’s two decisions - not fielding candidates for the recent elections to the Legislative Council and of abruptly staying away from the Bengaluru mayoral polls is- are understood to have not gone down well with the central leadership.

These decisions had left the party cadre bewildered as they came amid speculation that the BJP would topple the ruling Janata Dal(S)-Congress coalition government by wooing MLAs from the combine. The decision not to field candidates in the Council polls, for which MLAs are voters, turned out to be an anti-climax.

The manner in which the party stayed away from contesting also triggered speculation that it was not confident of keeping its flock together, let alone of wooing MLAs from the coalition.

This boosted the morale of the ruling combine as it put an end to political instability at least for the time being. But the political interpretation that the BJP lacked confidence in keeping its flock together embarrassed the party cadre.

Similar was the case with fielding candidates in the mayoral polls for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.

The supporters of party State president B.S. Yeddyurappa and Bengaluru city leader R. Ashok — who, respectively, took the decisions on not fielding candidates for the Council and mayoral polls — have defended the moves by pointing out that the party lacked numerical strength to win both polls.

However, party insiders admit that these episodes and the tepid end to the apparent efforts to topple the government have the potential to affect the party’s morale ahead of the formal launch of preparations for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The matter is expected to come up during the interactions with Mr. Shah when he visits, party sources note. Meanwhile, these decisions have given ammunition to Mr. Yeddyurappa’s detractors and left his supporters worried.