Javadekar is BJP's election in-charge for Karnataka polls

Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar was appointed as BJP's election in-charge for Karnataka assembly polls which will be due early next year.

Javadekar will be assisted by Union Power Minister Piyush Goel to discharge his maiden Karnataka poll assignment. The two ministers had similarly supervised preparation of 2016 Tamil Nadu assembly elections. 

"People want a change in Karnataka. The BJP has tremendous support in the state and the party has a very strong team there. We will together carry out the responsibility bestowed on us by the party," Javadekar stated on getting the new responsibility. 

Though Javadekar never got a chance from the party to associate himself with the Karnataka elections, the minister, said a close aide of his, comes from the adjoining state of Maharastra and fairly knows about South India. He was entrusted with the task to reach out to Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and other surrounding states on the first anniversary of Modi government, his aide added.  

BJP president Amit Shah's decision on election managers comes two days ahead of Karnataka state core group meeting he has scheduled in the national capital to outline the broad contours of the strategy with the Congress trying to pitch Kannadiga pride against Hindutva. Chief Minister Siddaramaih is also reviving old cases against BJP's poll mascot BS Yeddyurappa, a concern that the BJP leaders will have to address.   

Other top BJP ministers too were assigned for poll-bound states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, aided by 4 top leaders including Nirmala Sitharaman, Jitendra Singh and Narendra Singh Tomar and P P Chaudhary, will oversee Gujarat. While Social Justice Minister Thwarchand Gehlot will take care of  Himachal Pradesh.

The BJP has relied on Jaitley's past experience of managing Gujarat polls to renominate him for the same task. And so is the case with Sitharaman. 

Shah's heavy deployment in his and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state of Gujarat assumes importance due to the stiff target of 150 seats to win in the assembly elections which the party had not even managed when Modi ruled the state for years. The party top brass, said sources, would also like to avenge humbling experience during the just held Rajya Sabha election. 

The BJP despite deploying its might could not stop Congress leader Ahmed Patel from having the fifth stint in the Upper House. The other two seats were comfortably won by Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani.