Message to BJP: Stem rot or face rout

Party has lost ground in its strongholds of North Karnataka, coastal districts

The people’s verdict in the polls to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), as BJP insiders themselves admit, is a warning bell to the party that indiscipline and infighting would only do more damage to the party.

The party’s image has taken a beating in the last five years with internal fighting for oneupmanship, resulting in indifference towards governance and administration.
The BJP has received a severe drubbing in the civic elections, from whichever angle one looks at the results. Not only has the total tally of the BJP come down compared to the 2007 polls, the party has lost its base in several districts of North Karnataka and also the coastal region, considered to be its stronghold.

The BJP has come a distant second securing 905 seats, way behind Congress’ 1,960 seats. The party had clocked 1,180 seats in the 2007 polls. Moreover, as the results indicate, the BJP has failed to extend its influence and make inroads in the old Mysore region, despite being in power.

It is obvious that the government and the party had not been able to strike a chord with the urban electorate. The people had given the party the benefit of doubt in the various bypolls to the Assembly and also the Panchayat elections in the last five years. However, their patience seems to have run out.

On the organisational front, there was no move to enthuse the demoralised party cadre. That the BJP did not want the polls to be held was an indication of its reluctance to face the people.

To add insult to injury, the party has lost its hold in three of the four corporations that it held in the last five years. Hubli-Dharwad is the only Corporation where the BJP has emerged as the single largest party. Here too, it is one seat short of majority.

The party has lost three corporations - Davangere, Bellary and Mangalore -  to the Congress. The party has also fared badly in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi. The two contenders for the post of State party president to succeed K S Eshwarappa - D V Sadananda Gowda and Nalin Kumar Kateel - are from this region.

What has hurt the BJP most is the erosion of its base in the districts of Bagalkot, Bijapur, Bellary and Haveri. Of the 34 ULBs in these districts, the BJP has emerged as the single largest party in six civic bodies, with a majority in just three. In the 2008 Assembly elections, the BJP had secured 25 of the 30 seats in these four districts.

The tumultuous tenure of the BJP also witnessed two of its leaders B S Yeddyurappa and B Sriramulu quit the party and launch their own political outfits. The KJP has played spoilsport for BJP’s prospects in Gadag and Shimoga.

The drubbing in the polls could not have come at a wrong time for the BJP as the party was trying to put up an united face for the forthcoming Assembly polls.