Facing anti-incumbency, BJP MLAs seek out saviour BSY

High levels of anti-incumbency are said to be giving sleepless nights to several BJP lawmakers who are nudging B S Yediyurappa, the party's Lingayat strongman, to boost their poll prospects.

The anxiety is reflected in the way MLAs and leaders are queuing up at 'Dhavalagiri', Yediyurappa's residence, for an audience with the former chief minister who is still the party's tallest leader.

One way of dousing the anti-incumbency flames, according to BJP MLAs, is to have the veteran leader campaign in their constituencies.

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Yediyurappa has already announced that he would not contest in the upcoming election. But there is no denying that he holds enough clout to influence voters; pundits also feel that he has the ability to stitch a social coalition comprising all sections.

Danger signals are emanating from north Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka.

"As of today, the BJP is facing maximum resistance in north Karnataka, which should have been the easiest of territories with sitting CM (Basavaraj Bommai) from that region," Praveen Patil, founder of electoral analysis firm 5Forty3 Datalabs, said in a tweet on Jan 21.

"Not just Hyderabad-Karnataka, but even Mumbai-Karnataka has high levels of anti-incumbency, which is a big danger signal," he said.

Many MLAs, especially from north Karnataka, have asked Yediyurappa to campaign for them on a regular basis. However, Yediyurappa is said to have told them of the impossibility of doing individual campaigns.

So, MLAs have started organising apolitical events like caste-based conventions or temple renovation programmes to get Yediyurappa attend such events to create a buzz among voters.

DH contacted more than a dozen MLAs who maintained that Yediyurappa's visit to their constituencies would help them.

According to Honnali MLA MP Renukacharya, Yediyurappa carries "a lot of goodwill" among voters cutting across caste lines.

"That's why MLAs prefer him. Everybody knows he's our tallest leader," Renukacharya, who is also Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's political secretary, told DH. "But that doesn't mean Yediyruappa has differences with CM Bommai.”

Terdal MLA Siddu Savadi said a "powerful pontiff" from the weavers' community had invited Yediyurappa to attend a religious function recently. "I also took part in the function," he said.

Kittur MLA Mahantesh Doddagoudar said Yediyurappa had visited his constituency twice. "He is an indispensable leader," he said. "The entire party needs him.”