PM Modi-Amit Shah rally, party overhaul on Vijayendra’s drawing board for Karnataka

Bengaluru: The BJP is planning a mega rally with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah some time in February somewhere in North Karnataka next year to galvanise the party cadre ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. 

Before that, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra said he is pushing for an overhaul of the party’s structure across the state. 

Speaking to DH, Vijayendra said a new state-level team will be in place this month.

“By January 10 or 15, we’re looking to overhaul our district and mandal (taluk) bodies with new presidents. The incumbents have spent 3-4 years. We want to bring in new faces,” he said. 

Vijayendra said he would soon hold talks with the BJP top brass on selecting candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.

It is said that Vijayendra has already held preliminary talks with JD(S) legislature party leader H D Kumaraswamy, the BJP’s alliance partner in Karnataka. 

According to sources, the BJP is looking for winnable candidates in Haveri, Belgaum, Davangere, Tumkur and other seats where the incumbent MPs may not get re-nominated.

In Tumkur, for example, BJP veteran B S Yediyurappa reached out to former law minister J C Madhuswamy to contest.

However, Madhuswamy has been keeping a low profile - he is “almost inactive” after he lost the Assembly polls - making his candidature unlikely, sources said. 

After being appointed as the BJP state president last month, Vijayendra has focused on tightening the nuts and bolts of the party, following its terrible defeat in the Assembly polls.

As part of this, Vijayendra is spending time holding talks with leaders to sort out internal differences. 

“Even Yelahanka MLA S R Vishwanath, whose outbursts on the floor of the Assembly against leader of the Opposition R Ashoka damaged the party’s image, has been talked sense into,” a source aware of the matter said. 

Vijayendra’s appointment as BJP state president caused heartburn among a section within the party.

Some have felt that the party’s top brass may not have chosen Vijayendra if the decision on appointing the state president had to be made after the BJP’s victories in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. 

Responding to his detractors, Vijayendra said: “If those who were ministers had risen to the occasion, the party needn’t have picked me. But I’m sure everyone will agree with the high command’s decision (of appointing me) after the Lok Sabha polls.”