JOIN USA day after the BJP received a severe drubbing in the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) polls, its senior leaders on Tuesday refused to own responsibility for the party’s poor electoral performance.
With infighting leaving the party shattered, the leaders have started chanting ‘unity mantra.’
Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, Deputy Chief Minister K S Eshwarappa, Bangalore South MP Ananth Kumar, former chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda among others held a marathon meeting on Tuesday where they decided to project a picture of unity among themselves and restore the confidence among party workers to face the ensuing Assembly elections.
The party has decided to hold a series of meetings on March 16 and 17 in Bangalore to discuss the ULB poll verdict. Party’s district presidents, ministers and legislators will be participating in the meetings.
Later, Shettar, Eshwarappa and Sadananda Gowda jointly addressed the media at the BJP office and claimed that the party has done well in the ULB elections despite many odds. Interestingly, Gowda did not utter a word. On Monday, he had said that the BJP should learn a lesson from its debacle. The poor performance was due to the infighting in the party, he had said.
“The elections were limited to only 22 per cent of the total electorate in the State. It, in no way, can be a pre-cursor to the Assembly polls. For instance, in the 2007 ULB polls the BJP secured the third position but emerged as the single largest party in the Assembly polls held a few months later,” Shettar reasoned.
‘Dictatorial attitude’
Sadananda Gowda, an aspirant for the State BJP president’s post, said that dictatorial attitude of certain leaders including the party’s Mangalore MP Nalin Kumar Kateel had damaged the party’s prospects in the coastal districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada.