'Defensive narrative can't win polls,' Annamalai tells Cong

Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai is part of a 3-member team supervising the saffron party’s election effort in Karnataka. In a chat with Bharath Joshi, the former Karnataka cadre IPS officer is confident that BJP will return to power. Excerpts:

What is your assessment on the BJP’s prospects?

There was a time when all elections were local. But post-2014, after Modi came, every election is becoming about national narrative, which is something we can't deny. I'm pretty sure in Karnataka also, the national narrative will play a disproportionate role. The overall pattern seen in elections that happened across India will repeat in Karnataka and the BJP will come back to power.

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What, then, is the narrative in this election?

Karnataka saw three CMs over a five-year period. People are seeing the election in this context. Do they want a stable government or a hung assembly? Karnataka has felt now that for clean developmental politics, an organic majority is a must. Since national and state politics are so intertwined, people don't see them separately. Congress, overall, doesn't have a national narrative. Their narrative is defensive: BJP didn't do this, they are ‘40% Sarkara’ etc. A defensive narrative can't win you elections. I’m happy that development has taken the centrestage over the past one month. There's debate on Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway, the Shivamogga airport, the Upper Bhadra Project...I'm seeing common man talk about these things. It has shifted away from caste, adjustment and regional politics. There's a narrative on development. I still believe BJP's true potential has not been seen in Karnataka. And, 140+ is the figure where Karnataka will see the true potential of BJP.

Isn’t anti-incumbency a major worry for BJP MLAs?

Before Modi, anti-incumbency was more about basic expectations not met. Now, anti-incumbency for a BJP government is that an MLA has to meet expectations set by Modi. The bar is set so high. The second challenge is that a certain segment of voters have a mindset in favour of freebies. This is another kind of anti-incumbency due to unrealistic expectations being set by Congress. But CM Bommai's budget has set a great moral example. He gave a revenue surplus budget, which showed his confidence that people will vote for BJP. "I won't throw anything just for the sake of winning an election." That's the narrative our MLAs and leaders have to take. We won't sacrifice your future just because we want something to happen immediately.

Politically, does it not worry you that some of Congress' poll guarantees are getting talked about on the ground?

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Congress is very desperate and has to throw everything it has. This is the only large state where they think they can win before 2024. I won't deny there's a stickiness quotient. Rahul Gandhi has announced doles for the unemployed. He tried the same with farmers, classifying them as unemployed. Congress' fundamental problem is to give doles. BJP's approach is: Yes, you are unemployed. We will give you a Mudra loan. Under Startup India, we’ll give you some money. We will help you come up and institutions will stand with you. But Congress still lives on giving doles. Modi has said freebies shouldn't crowd important investments - health, education, water, sanitation etc. Even Bommai could have announced a dole of Rs 5,000. But the counter-logic is, what is it that you have to sacrifice?

There's a feeling that the government wasn't effective enough in countering the ‘40 per cent commission’ allegation.

I pity Congress that it came down to one contractor's statement that is being spun around. It’s good in a way because Congress can speak about anything other than corruption, which was BJP's trump card in 2014. I feel Congress is getting back into its own grave by taking corruption as an issue. Congress used the opportunity when the new (Bommai) government wasn't fully set in. They threw narratives to see which one sticks. I'm of the firm belief that even if our ministers didn't come out and defend the ‘40% sarkara’ allegation, the record of the government speaks for itself. The government was too busy governing than responding to Congress’ allegations. It will have its own result when people vote.

Will the ‘Hindutva and development’ plank find traction with voters?

Hindutva is to say Sama Palu...that's our definition of how governance should be. Hindutva is never exclusionary. Some people who support our cause, but aren't in line with our ideological positioning have an extreme view of Hindutva. That's for them to say. But in governance, we carry the message of being all-inclusive. Congress appeased a certain community and discriminated against one community. BJP is not going to appease one major community and try to discriminate against others. In Bantwal, our MLA Rajesh Naik did a 15-day padayatra. He said it was about peace and synchronisation, to tell Bantwal people that after 2018, all religions stood united, which led to development. Before 2018, there were 132 days of curfew that hampered development in Bantwal. Thousands of Muslims participated in this.

In your view, are manifestos relevant?

Manifestos are relevant and important. A manifesto is a guiding document like every corporate company has a vision-mission document. But I believe manifestos have to be realistic. Many of them are written casually by a bunch of politicians in a room. It's time to bring rationality. Can I write a whitepaper even before I go to elections? If I promise Rs 2,000, this is how I'm going to do it. What will be the financial position of the state at the end of a year? Modi has done it: no below-the-line budgets, no trimming, no hidden lines. He made budget documents transparent. A manifesto is an overarching view of where the state will be five years from now. But unfortunately, I see manifestos like Congress’ - so backward, defying logic and basic rules of economics and political system.

Is PM Modi the BJP candidate in Karnataka?

In every single election, it is Modi. He has transcended politics. He means confidence for people.

Won’t that undermine the local leadership?

If there's a big banyan tree, it doesn't mean there's no place for small trees.