BSY chooses Ashoka’s home turf for poll prep

BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa took part in a cleanliness drive in Banashankari to mark Gandhi Jayanti celebrations.

He, along with party colleagues Govind Karjol, P C Mohan and R Ashoka were seen distributing dustbins and sweeping the streets of the locality. Yeddyurappa said that the party had started its electoral preparations for the Lok Sabha polls through the cleanliness drive.

Speaking to reporters, Yeddyurappa said that his party was certain of winning the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka. "This is not merely a cleanliness drive. The party leaders have started preparations for the Lok Sabha elections from today itself. Hence we have all come to Padmanabhanagar constituency, which is represented by Ashoka. The party has begun the process of candidate selection. We are sure to win the elections,” he said.

Interestingly, Yeddyurappa chose the Padmanabhanagar constituency for conducting the 'Swachata' drive. The constituency is represented by Ashoka, who recently drew flak from his own partymen for the BJP’s failure in Bengaluru mayoral election.

Soon after the polls, BJP national joint organisational secretary B L Santhosh indirectly hit out at Ashoka for the party’s failure in getting its candidate elected as the mayor. In a Facebook post he had said that those who didn’t believe in team spirit - and refused to share credit, never succeeded.

Yeddyurappa however was quick to come to Ashoka’s rescue; re-establishing the fact that all was still not well between him and Santhosh. Yeddyurappa had defended Ashoka by saying that though the former deputy chief minister had made good efforts, the party had been unable to shore up adequate numbers to win the elections.

Ashoka, who was given charge of the elections, was later accused of not taking other leaders of the party into confidence while drawing up the strategies.