Karnataka: BJP to fight polls on Modi's popularity, anti-graft plank

Karnataka BJP president B S Yeddyurappa may be the chief ministerial face of the party, but the saffron party will fight the next year Assembly polls with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “credible face” and on anti-corruption plank.

Modi’s developmental agenda as well as party president Amit Shah’s organisation skills will be key to the BJP’s electoral strategy for the next year polls, a senior party functionary said here on Wednesday.

As Shah is visiting Bengaluru for three days from August 12 to meet leaders of various wings of the BJP, the state unit will virtually kick off the election preparations.

“We will seek votes on the NDA government's three-and-a-half year corruption-free administration at the Centre and against the Siddaramaiah regime’s misgovernance in the state,” he said. The party will be cautious not to get drawn into comparison between the Siddaramaiah government and the previous BJP regime in the state as it had suffered an image dent due to corruption charges and saw three chief ministers in five years.

Claiming that the BJP was never on the back foot to fight against the alleged corrupt practices of the Congress government in Karnataka, the BJP leader said a resolution was passed at the just-concluded BJP state executive committee meeting clearly stating that it vowed to fight against corruption. 

Despite the Congress criticism that the recent Income Tax raids on Energy Minister D K Shivakumar were due to political vendatta, people of Karnataka did not suspect the intention of the Modi government, whose initiative to fight against black money and benami properties have received kudos across the country, he said.

On the state unit leaders’ failure to utilise the I-T raids against Shivakumar to intensify fight against the corruption in the Congress government, he said that the state leaders will launch a fight as more evidence against ministers come out in the public domain.

On corruption charges against its own leaders, he said such politicians will be kept at bay in the run-up to the polls.

Insisting that the BJP is ready for early elections, if the ruling Congress decides to dissolve the Assembly, the leader said that since winning Karnataka is the top most priority for the party, it would work with full force and unitedly.