Coastal Karnataka BJP cadres seek High Command’s firm decision on state leadership

Focus Canara

The repeated ‘Replace Yediyurappa,’ campaign has left the BJP leaders of the Coastal Karnataka worried. It is not because they are loyal supporters of BS Yediyurappa. But they are worried about their future!

Dakshina Kannada and Udupi and to some extent Uttara Kannada are the strongholds of saffron outfits. While BJP has strong roots here, the Sangh Parivar is very active and strong compared to all the regions in the state.
While the opponents of BJP call it a lab of Sangh Parivar, the saffron outfit indeed takes the organization of the coastal districts as a model.

The MLAs and MPs have hardly raised their voice against the party’s decision. While we see leaders lobbying for Ministry in other parts of the state, the leaders here are known for their loyalty to the party and Sangh Parivar. Even senior most MLA like Angara who was not included in the cabinet initially did not express rebel. Despite sweeping the district, none of the BJP MLAs in Udupi have entered the cabinet! Though the MLAs sometimes express their unhappiness, this never turns into rebellion.

The reason for worry is not that they want BSY to continue or expect favor from him. They only want the High Command to take a firm decision. They want the Central leaders to decide either to continue BSY or to change him as they feel such uncertain and repeated ‘rebellion,’ would only prove the weak High Command and this could damage their future.

Similarly, the caste politics too does not work here. Political Pandits declared the defeat of BJP when it fielded six bunt candidates out of 13 in DK and Udupi district in the last assembly election. Their calculation was the majority Billavas would be unhappy as they were given only two seats whereas Bunts were given more. All these calculations too turned upside down when people voted BJP to power denying the caste politics here.

The MLAs here obediently followed when the party opted to make D V Sadananda Gowda the Chief Minister and also later when it decided to bring him down and elevate Jagadish Shettar.

But the only thing that is worrying them in recent days is the repeated ‘Replace Yediyurappa,’ campaign.

The reason for worry is not that they want BSY to continue or expect favor from him. They only want the High Command to take a firm decision. They want the Central leaders to decide either to continue BSY or to change him as they feel such uncertain and repeated ‘rebellion,’ would only prove the weak High Command and this could damage their future.

While it is true that the BJP swept the entire Coastal region in the last assembly election, the MLAs do not disapprove of the fact that the credit should go to none other than the High Command- Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah. The new faces as well as some of the old leaders, who would have otherwise lost, entered the assembly mainly because of people’s confidence in the central leadership. Even in the recently held Panchayat elections, the local leaders were seen encashing more on the Central leaders!

The BJP leaders here believe that the strength of the party in the coastal belt directly depends on the strong central leadership. If the high command is seen as weak then people too may not vote for the party in the future elections, the leaders fear.

“There should not be any confusion. If they want to change the Chief Minister let them change. If they want to continue let them continue. But this repeated confusion should not be there. It sends a wrong signal that the party high command is weak. The general image of the BJP High Command and the Central leaders is that they take a very firm decision. Article 370, The opposition has already started mocking that the High Command which claims of ruling with an iron fist kneel before BSY. This should not happen especially when the state BJP chief is from the Coastal district,” a senior BJP leader who did not want to be named told The Canara Post.

“The party should be merciless. Right from not fielding senior leaders like L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to the abolition of Article 370 and passing the CAA and surgical strike, the leaders had shown their firm decision. So they should take a firm decision on BSY’s continuation. Even when the High Command was not much strong in Congress they had overthrown Chief Ministers in Karnataka. Pandemic should not be a reason for not changing the CM as Modi was coronated few months after the Gujarat earthquake,” he added.

BJP knows that the voters of Coastal Karnataka take decisions based on issues. While the votes had completely supported Congress in the 2013 election, in the 2018 election they reversed it, clearly showing they do not vote blindly.