BJP planning big convention with JD(S) to bring Karnataka leaders together

Bengaluru, Oct 12 (IANS): The BJP high command is planning to organise a massive convention in Karnataka to bring together the leaders of the party and JD(S) on a single platform. The convention will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah, according to sources.

Sources also said the convention will be held after the Assembly elections in five states. The high command wants to pass on the message to the grassroots-level workers in the alliance. The plan is to bring a top leader, PM Modi or Amit Shah from New Delhi, former CM B.S. Yediyurappa and former PM H.D. Deve Gowda and his son former CM H.D. Kumaraswamy together.

All the leaders will proclaim the alliance and pledge to take on the Congress government in Karnataka. Though the alliance has been announced and Kumaraswamy has met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the party workers at the grassroots level were still not able to digest the development.

The BJP and Congress party workers have seen JD(S) as arch-rivals in the state for decades. Though JD(S) formed a coalition government with both parties, the bitterness and rivalry is still afresh among the party workers. In order to quell the bitterness and to stop Congress from taking advantage of the situation, the party is planning to convene a massive convention and sound the bugle for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Though the alliance might prove to be a setback for BJP in south Karnataka districts where it was finding a foothold, the leaders explained that joining hands with JD(S) will definitely help the saffron party to face the ruling Congress party which is looking formidable by implementing the guarantee schemes as promised.

The Congress is leaving no stone unturned to keep the goodwill intact among the Muslim vote bank which voted overwhelmingly for the Congress in the last Assembly elections. At the same time, the party is also wooing SC, ST and OBC votes by preparing to accept the controversial caste census report, which was prepared by the Siddaramaiah government during its previous tenure in 2016. The report undermines the influence of Vokkaliga and Lingayat vote banks and projects SC and Muslim as dominant vote banks in Karnataka.

Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar is emerging as the face of the Vokkaliga community from Congress and CM Siddaramaiah is projected as the follower of Basava philosophy, the founder of Lingayat ideology.

However, the handling of Cauvery issue, allegations of appeasement over handling of Shivamogga violence sparked during the Eid-Milad procession, statement of the Home Minister Dr. G. Parameshwara describing the incident of barging of miscreants into the houses of Hindus and assaulting them as a small incident, allegations of sidelining of Lingayats have given a golden opportunity for the BJP and JD(S) to launch attacks on the Congress government, which until now seemed invincible.

Former CM Kumaraswamy had already launched a scathing attack on the Congress government and to an extent chiding the Vokkaliga community that they are now facing the consequences for choosing DyCM Shivakumar over him and it is time that they return to JD(S).