Bommai bets on beneficiary outreach to score for BJP

At least four out of every ten voters in Karnataka have received personal benefits under various programmes of the BJP government, a poll vault that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is banking on ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls.

According to Bommai, various schemes of the BJP government have reached 20,000-25,000 homes in every assembly constituency in Karnataka. He has asked party workers to hold beneficiary conventions in every assembly segment to ensure that they become BJP voters.

At the BJP executive meeting in Hosapete last week, Bommai said the BJP’s success will depend on ensuring the support of beneficiaries. This reflects Bommai’s plan to bring the development narrative to the fore, after a slew of ‘communal’ or ‘divisive’ issues have rocked Karnataka of late.

Read | Karnataka clears projects worth Rs 11,000 crore

Considering that there are 25,000 homes in each of the 224 assembly segments that are covered under the BJP government’s scheme, it works out to 2.24 crore citizens at the rate of four members in one household (as per the government’s conventional definition of a household). That’s 44% of the five-crore-odd voters in Karnataka.

Bommai is particular about some schemes that are under implementation: The Mane Manege Gange (Jal Jeevan Mission) under which the government wants to cover 25 lakh households this year, the Vidyanidhi scholarship scheme for farmers’ children that has already reached 5.6 lakh students, hike in pensions that have benefitted 57 lakh citizens, interest-free loans for 33 lakh farmers among others.

Such a beneficiary-oriented approach is something Prime Minister Narendra Modi is known to have done. It is also something the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government tried in the 2018 Assembly elections as it counted on crores of citizens who were covered under various ‘Bhagya’ schemes.

The BJP Yuva Morcha will play a key role in the beneficiary outreach, according to Dr Sandeep Kumar, who heads the party’s youth wing in Karnataka.

“We will act as a bridge with beneficiaries,” he said. “In addition to the state government schemes, there are central programmes, such as Mudra loans and scholarships that will be taken to the people.”

Kumar said that Yuva Samavesha (youth conventions) will be held in every district where beneficiary outreach will happen.

However, converting beneficiaries into votes is easier said than done, according to one BJP MLA. “This will work only if you are a winning candidate. That’s when beneficiaries will give you their vote because they know you can win,” the MLA said.

Check out the latest DH videos here: