As wait for BJP Karnataka chief, LoP drags on 6 months later, MLAs grow restive

With the Winter Session of the Karnataka legislature approaching, many state BJP leaders are hoping that at least the state legislature unit head, or the Leader of the Opposition, will be appointed. The Congress has been attacking the BJP over this. However, there is also scepticism, given the BJP’s track record. In Jharkhand, the party did not appoint an LoP for four years, after it lost in 2019 to the Congress. Babulal Marandi was appointed LoP only last month.

Former Karnataka chief minister and BJP National Executive member B S Yediyurappa stated this week that he would urge the central leadership to appoint an LoP ahead of the Session, where the BJP is expecting to join forces with its new ally, the JD(S), to take on the Congress government.

The statement followed reports that a few MLAs had said they would not attend the Winter Session in the absence of an LoP. A BJP MP from Bengaluru, D V Sadananda Gowda, suggested last month in an interview to a local media outlet that “the dictatorial attitude” of the party’s central leadership was hurting the state BJP.

Summons to three BJP state OBC leaders – K S Eshwarappa, Kota Srinivas Poojary and P C Mohan – last week to come to Delhi was expected to throw some light on the appointments. The leaders however only attended a meeting by BJP of OBC leaders from around the country to formulate the party pro-OBC pushback.

According to sources, one reason for the delay on the part of the BJP central leadership is the apprehension of “adjustment politics” between the new LoP and ruling Congress leaders. A section of the BJP blames this politics between leaders across the two parties for the party’s May loss.

In August, when PM Modi visited ISRO for the successful moon landing, he chose not to meet Congress government representatives or local leaders – which was taken as a sign of Modi conveying that he remained unhappy about the May loss.

Another factor delaying the appointments is the need to balance contrasting caste equations in the state – especially the dominant Lingayats and Vokkaligas.

While the extended three-year term of current BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel ended in August, one of the prime contenders for LoP initially was former CM Basavaraj Bommai, a Lingayat. However, with Bommai the CM when the BJP lost, the party ignored his claim, and he is now laid low due to a recent bypass surgery. The other names which have done the rounds are of C T Ravi, Basangouda Patil Yatnal, Sunil Kumar, R Ashok and C N Ashwath Narayan.

A senior BJP leader conveyed the uncertainty within the state unit, saying: “The appointments may happen. We do not know how long they will keep them pending… It can be done suddenly also.”

Sources said that the central observers sent in July – Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya and a BJP leader from Maharashtra, Vinod Tawde, – had gathered “the opinion of important office-bearers”. At the time, BJP MLC and general secretary N Ravikumar said: “They will hold discussions with the BJP national president… We hope a decision comes soon.”

Last week, as the BJP targeted the Congress government over alleged differences between him and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM D K Shivakumar said: “Never in the history of Karnataka has there been an instance where an LoP has not been appointed for six months. They are not capable of doing it, but no one is asking them questions.”