As Battle Karnataka heats up, BJP Jana Sankalpa rallies give a hint of its war plan

At one of the Jana Sankalpa rallies in the Ballari region last week – coinciding with the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra in the area — former Karnataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa stated that the BJP under Prime Minister Narendra Modi had weeded out corruption in the various benefit schemes meant for the public.

“After PM Modi came to power, he has been depositing money directly into the accounts of the poor. The Congress was in power at the Centre for 10 years, but they looted the earth and sky. This is why they were defeated in 2018,” Yediyurappa said.

According to senior BJP leaders, DBT is going to be a central theme in the BJP’s efforts to counter allegations of corruption being brought against the party by the Opposition — including the “40 per cent commission government” charge and the Congress’s ‘PayCM’ campaign.

The Jana Sankalpa rallies and recent events of Modi in Karnataka have involved honouring beneficiaries of various schemes of the Central government.

However, the DBT system in Karnataka is far from working at the optimum level. A recent CAG report on the performance of the DBT system stated that “the process of onboarding of the schemes onto the Core DBT Portal was slow, as only 83 out of 239 identified schemes could be onboarded as of April 2021”. “This slow process resulted in the disbursement of benefits worth Rs 2,829.02 crore outside the Core DBT under 168 schemes by 22 departments,” said the report, tabled in the Karnataka Assembly on September 15.

The DBT system uses information technology to transfer financial benefits directly into the Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts of targeted beneficiaries of government schemes.

Among the schemes the CAG report talked about was Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, one of the flagship schemes of the Modi government. As per the report, DBT payment of Rs 91.99 crore under it “was pending processing since 2019-20, resulting in depriving the beneficiaries of their benefits”. “Inadequate validations and controls resulted in the delivery of benefits to ineligible beneficiaries,” the report added.

It also said that while a grievance redressal mechanism had been established to aid beneficiaries, the BJP government in the state “was yet to evaluate and assess the impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of delivery of benefits/services consequent on implementation of DBT”.

2. Perfecting caste maths

The BJP has moved deftly in creating potentially a strong caste mix of support for it in northern Karnataka, with the dominant Lingayats (its traditional supporters) at the top, backed by Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes who are now beneficiaries of enhanced reservations announced recently by the Basavaraj Bommai government.

At one of the Jana Sankalpa rallies last week, Bommai attributed the decision to enhance reservations from 15 to 17% for SCs, and 3 to 6% for STs to the political sagacity of Yediyurappa.

Yediyurappa, the most prominent Lingayat leader of Karnataka, whose departure for a brief in the past had hurt the BJP, is now back at the centre of action after being elevated to the party parliamentary board – its highest decision-making body — in August. The recent manoeuvres by the BJP, to fight both corruption charges and anti-incumbency, are seen to have Yediyurappa’s imprint.

Apart from SC/STs, the BJP hopes to also draw the support of several smaller backward class groups, that together make up 33% of the OBCs in the state, in order to counter the Congress’s sway over some groups like the Kurubas, who make up 7% of the block.

The BJP is likely to host some major events for OBCs in the coming months, with top central leaders in attendance.

The BJP is, however, yet to find a solution for its lack of a caste support base in south Karnataka, which is dominated by the Vokkaliga community that allies with the JD(S). Here, it would be relying more on the success of government schemes to win polls. Next month, PM Modi is likely to inaugurate a 108-feet-tall statue of the Vokkaliga community icon and founder of the Bengaluru city, Kempegowda.

3. Infrastructure push

The PM is also expected to announce other major projects in the state in the run-up to the elections, with multiple visits. One of them is likely to be the opening of a second terminal at the Kempegowda International Airport in November. The Karnataka government is also looking at opening a much-awaited section of the Bengaluru Metro between Baiyappanahalli and Whitefield — a key IT corridor — before the state polls.

ಬಿಜೆಪಿ ಹಿರಿಯ ನಾಯಕ ಶ್ರೀ @BSYBJP ಅವರ ನೇತೃತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ ಆರಂಭವಾಗಿರುವ ಜನಸಂಕಲ್ಪ ಯಾತ್ರೆಯು ಇಂದು ಬೀದರ್ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯ ಔರಾದ್ ಹಾಗೂ ಹುಮ್ನಾಬಾದನಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯಲಿದೆ. ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಹಾಗೂ ರಾಜ್ಯ ಸರ್ಕಾರದ ಸಾಧನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಜನತೆಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸುವ ಜೊತೆ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇವದುರ್ಲಭ ಕಾರ್ಯಕರ್ತ ಪಡೆಗೆ ಉತ್ಸಾಹ ತುಂಬುವ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ಯಾತ್ರೆ ಮಾಡಲಿದೆ.#JanaSankalpaYatre pic.twitter.com/VAQ4p8gZbj

— Basavaraj S Bommai (@BSBommai) October 18, 2022

4. PFI on agenda

The BJP is expected to also turn up the heat on the Congress and former chief minister Siddaramaiah, over alleged support to the Popular Front of India (PFI), which has now been banned by the Modi government for alleged involvement in terrorist activities.

During the Bharat Jodo Yatra this month, posters surfaced along its route showing Siddaramaiah, along with the slogan ‘PFI Bhagya’. (Several schemes under the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in 2013-2018 were launched under the tag of ‘Bhagya’.) The posters had QR codes, which led to a website that outlined cases dropped against PFI activists by the Siddaramaiah government. Earlier, the Congress had targeted the Bommai government with ‘PayCM’ posters with QR codes.

While hijab was expected to feature high on the BJP’s agenda, a split verdict in the Supreme Court on the issue of the Karnataka government’s move to ban the wearing of hijab in government colleges has deprived the party of gloating rights over the move. The matter is to now be taken up by a bigger Bench constituted by the Chief Justice of India. Karnataka Education Minister B C Nagesh has suggested that the verdict could have been “better”.