Finger-pointing, bad blood at BJP review meetings for Karnataka polls

A section of leaders seen as belonging to the opposite camp argued that the freebies announced by the Congress gave the party an upper hand, while the the schemes of the Basavaraj Bommai government did not get adequately conveyed to voters.

The loudest criticism was against the Bommai government’s move to end the reservation for Muslims and re-distribute the same among the Vokkaligas, Lingayats, and SCs and STs, while also rejigging quotas internally.

“More than 100 candidates who lost the election were present at the meetings,” said a source.

The others in attendance included national general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Arun Singh, state BJP president Nalin Kateel, national general secretary C T Ravi (a four-term MLA who was among those who lost in the Assembly polls), former chief ministers B S Yediyurappa and Bommai, former Union minister Sadananda Gowda, and former party chief K S Eshwarappa.

Sources said the bad blood, confusion and the shock of the loss evident at the meetings – the BJP won 66 seats to the Congress’s 135 – meant little progress could be made on key appointments. The party hopes to have an LoP in place before the Assembly session, expected to start in the first week of July.

The uncertainty over the leadership has meanwhile blunted the party’s attempts to take on the Congress government, sources added.

Two meetings were held at the BJP office in Bengaluru as part of the review exercise – one for the elected MLAs to discuss issues relating to the state organisation and to fix responsibilities for next year’s Lok Sabha elections; and the second for the candidates who lost, to review reasons for their defeat.

“Those who had joined the BJP from other parties and lost were also present. They were utterly disappointed with the BJP,” said a source.

Sources said the simmering anger was also visible at a Yuva Morcha meeting last week, where district presidents aired their criticism openly.

A central BJP leader familiar with the party functioning in Karnataka said: “It was an open house with many MLAs critically reviewing the party’s performance, exchanging their views frankly. They were blunt about the loss and directly attacked some leaders, criticised some of the decisions. This feedback will be taken seriously into decisions on appointments as well as for the Lok Sabha strategy.”

On candidate selection, some MLAs asked what kind of inputs the central leadership had received. “A few MLAs asked if the central leadership would hold someone accountable for the defeat. They pointed out that some decisions were imposed on them and their concerns were not paid attention to,” said a leader.

There were also complaints that not all BJP leaders from other states who were made in-charge of constituencies had worked in tandem with the candidates or local party leaders.

On the quota changes, which were announced days before the election dates came, many leaders were very agitated. “The MLAs said such a crucial policy decision was not properly discussed. The internal reservation changes for SCs left the Banjara community, which used to be a loyal support base for the BJP, antagonised. Some attributed their defeat to this,” the source said, adding that at least 30 constituencies were impacted.

Although the Bommai government had justified the changes as backed by “empirical data”, the BJP ended up losing all the 15 ST seats and 24 of the 36 SC-reserved seats.

The Bommai side’s counter-claim was that they did not get enough time or support to explain the government’s initiatives to the electorate. “The Congress freebies had taken the centrestage by then. The messaging process did not work well. Also, the JD(S) poor performance proved our calculations wrong. Unlike what we expected, its votes went to the Congress,” a leader said.

A former MLA who was defeated also backed this stand. “The BJP’s votes in the SC/ST-reserved constituencies remain more or less the same. Also, in over 50 constituencies, party candidates lost by a margin of less than 5,000 votes. So, the conclusion could be that our rival’s political messaging was more effective,” the ex-legislator said.

C T Ravi, who was among those present at the review meetings and was among the candidates who lost, again spoke openly on Monday about what he felt were the reasons for the party’s loss.

Speaking at the BJP office in Panaji, Goa, the party national general secretary, said: “There were multiple factors… It is not that we lost our vote bank. We secured our vote bank. In my opinion, because of the (Congress) guarantee card, over 50-100 votes in each booth went to the Congress… The internal reservation that was given… that was also not understood properly among the public.”

Seen as close to the central BJP leaders belonging to the state, Ravi, who is the party’s Goa in-charge, added: “We could not set the proper narrative, we accept our mistake. We did not work like Modiji.”

Ravi also said that while the Congress guarantees such as free bus ride for women may have worked for now, “we will see how long these last”.

On Friday, Ravi had hit out at state party colleagues, blaming their “compromise politics” with rivals for the BJP’s defeat in the polls.

Asked to elaborate what he meant by “compromise politics”, Ravi said on Monday, “I cannot elaborate much on this at a press conference. We will definitely discuss it at the party meeting.”

Earlier, Sadananda Gowda, the Bengaluru North MP who was also present at the review meetings, accused some leaders in the party of hatching a conspiracy to deny tickets for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to sitting party MPs.

(with inputs from Pavneet Singh Chadha, Panaji)