Q&A: My powers clipped? No, not at all'

After a dressing down by BJP National President Amit Shah, BJP state leaders are actively involved in election work, setting aside differences. BJP State President and the party’s CM candidate, B.S.Yeddyurappa is tirelessly touring the state and has already completed two rounds covering 30,000 km. 

In an interview with Deccan Chronicle, Mr. Yeddyurappa asserted that the party enjoys a very good atmosphere and voters are waiting to dethrone the ‘corrupt’ Congress government. The former CM disclosed that after a first round of surveys, the party has finalized candidates for 150 Assembly constituencies and has instructed them to start work in the constituencies. He also hinted that 8 to 10 Congress legislators are ready to join the BJP and have been told to join before December 2017. Denying that his power has been curtailed by the central leadership, with regard to taking election related decisions, BSY defended the  central leadership’s move to monitor election activity on a day-to-day basis and control ticket distribution saying this decision had reduced his burden. 

The Lingayat strongman also defended the party’s move to maintain a studious silence on the ongoing campaign for separate religion status for Lingayats. Here are excerpts from the interview.

After Party President Amit Shah’s  visit, what is the election related work you have taken up? Have you met his instructions? 
The most important instruction was to strengthen our booth committees. Amit Shahji  suggested booth committees on the lines of Uttar Pradesh by giving representation to all communities. We have 55,000 booths in the state, we have already constituted 50,000 booths by appointing nine members to each booth. The second direction was to strengthen our morchas, we have strengthened the SC/ST, OBC, minority and women morchas. It was Mr Shah’s advice to hold the Parivarthana rally across the state, He told us to invite members of all 55,000 booths to Bengaluru on bike, but to avoid the rush, we decided to conduct booth members’ rallies at Bengaluru and Hubballi. On November 2, we will hold a mega rally of booth members in Bengaluru and the second rally will be conducted in Hubballi in December, 2017.

What is the BJP's election agenda for 2018? Will the party focus only on the failures of the Siddaramaiah government or does it have a specific agenda to convince voters? 
Our focus is on the achievements of the Narendra Modi led Central government and those of the previous BJP government in the state, we will also highlight the failures of the Siddaramaiah government.  We will announce our vision for Karnataka in January 2018. If we disclose our plan now, this man (Siddaramaiah) will hijack it. More importantly, the party will focus on farmer related issues and Hindutva.

But people have still not forgotten the corruption cases during BJP rule in the state which the Congress is sure to highlight.
 I can tell you that I was not an accused, but I was denied bail in false cases and was sent to judicial custody. I was trapped by then governor H.R. Bhardwaj and others, due to this, I had to serve 15 days in judicial custody. Now, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are also out on bail, they avoided a jail term because of bail, but this was denied to me. 

We are all united now and conducting the Parivarthana rally in November, Central ministers will attend the rally. On each day, three assembly constituencies will be covered. 
As the principal opposition in the Assembly,  don't you feel the BJP has failed to take corruption related issues of the ruling Congress to their logical end? 
 This is an adamant government,  in fact we had raised many issues, but they won’t change their style of functioning. It was because of my threat to organise a farmers’ rally that the Chief Minister announced waiver of crop loans upto Rs 50,000.  The government said it has earmarked Rs 8000 crore, but not a single paisa has been reimbursed to co-operative societies. Nor are farmers getting fresh loans.

But the Opposition has given up the fight on the  Arkavathi redo scam and the curtailing of powers of Lokayukta after the formation of ACB.
 The ACB has been constituted to harass opposition leaders; Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is even using the ACB to raid income tax officers’ houses. Such vendetta politics happens nowhere else in the country. But the CM will face the consequences in future. There are about 40 cases against the CM and his colleagues but no FIR has been registered and no notice has been issued.

The ACB and CID are after you, filing case after case. Is Siddaramaiah more worried about you than the BJP?
The CM is worried about me, once my movement is restricted, he can do whatever he wants. The party announced me as the CM candidate 2 years before the elections, Siddaramaiah is not able to digest this development. I will don't care if he files 100 cases against me, I have the highest faith in the Judiciary. Chief Ministers have the right to conduct denotification, earlier CMs have done it, even the present CM has done it but he is making it a big issue.

The  BJP has fixed a target of 150 plus seats in 2018. Is it possible for the party to cross the figure when you found it difficult to field candidates in all 224 constituencies in the 2013 elections? 
 We will not enter an alliance with any party; we will contest all 224 seats. We have already identified 150 as ‘A’ category constituencies (with victory potential), 42 to 45 constituencies are in the 'B' category (need more effort to win). We will focus more on ‘A’ category constituencies and need more effort to win the B category seats. There are about 20 constituencies in ‘C’ category, (difficult to win).

There is no anti-incumbency visible against the Congress government, since there are no strong corruption cases against them. How will you convince voters to reject the Congress?
You cannot imagine the anti-incumbency the Congress government faces.  Each individual is finding it difficult to get his day-to-day work done; farmers are facing hardship at revenue offices. People are waiting to get rid of this government which announced schemes to gain cheap popularity but they have not benefited people.

But the CM says his populist schemes are reaching the poor and farmers.
For SC/ST development, the government has not been able to spent 60% of the allocated funds. No budget allocation was made for important schemes. Financial mismanagement is at its worst, I will obtain more information about about this. I heard this government had pledged BDA sites in banks and availed Rs 1000 crore. The Congress is quick to blame the Centre when in fact the NDA government has released more funds to Karnataka compared to the previous UPA government. 

What is the BJP’s vision for Bengaluru’s development?
This government has destroyed Bengaluru, the Congress government is considered a curse in Bengaluru. Siddaramaiah said he has provided world class infrastructure in the city but where has the money gone? There are potholes everywhere, the Congress is looting Bengaluru in the name of development. This is why the BJP has decided to prepare a blueprint for Bengaluru’s development. We have our plan, we have already discussed this with the Railway Minister. We  also have plans to ease Bengaluru’s traffic.

Many leaders have joined the BJP hoping to get tickets but you say the central leadership will decide.
 We have not promised tickets to anyone who has joined the party, we categorically told them that tickets will be given only after a survey. Already one round of surveys have been completed, we have finalized candidates for 150 seats. If there are constituencies with two or more aspirants, based on  a second survey, the ticket will be decided. Winnability is the only criterion, neither  Yeddyurappa  nor the Party National President will interfere in this. Tickets will be finalized based on public opinion in a transparent manner.

Yeddyurappa was more aggressive during the 2008 elections, but now the central leadership seems to have clipped his wings. Is it true?
 My powers have not been curtailed but the Central leadership is taking more interest and will guide the state unit in 2018. For example, the Parivarthana Rally was the idea of the central leadership. It was because of the central leadership's intervention that we were able to win 325 seats in UP.

Party workers still think there are checks on you. 
No no, not at all, they have given more powers to me. It was I who suggested that the central leadership should take the responsibility of distributing tickets. I alone cannot take the criticism from ticket aspirants, if the central leadership is involved, my work will be easy and I can get involved in election work.

You prevailed on the central leadership to keep party national joint secretary Santhosh away from Karnataka politics, but they have assigned him the responsibility of the party organization. Will this not lead to a parallel leadership in the BJP?
Santhosh has vast experience in the party, he was involved in strengthening the organization.  It is true that earlier,  there were minor differences in the party. Since there is no work for Santhosh in Kerala, we and Mr Amit Shah told him to concentrate on Karnataka. Even the Sangh Parivar told him to pay attention to Karnataka. I and Santhosh have no differences now. 

But in the districts there are two groups at loggerheads-one identified with Santhosh and the other loyal to you.
These are speculative media reports, the general secretaries finalize programmes and policies. Every week, we sit together at the core committee meeting and take collective decisions. 

Are you in a quandary over selecting Shikaripura or Terdal  in the Assembly elections? Why are you hesitant to contest from North Karnataka?
BJP leaders from Bagalkote and Vijayapura requested me to contest from Terdal, because it will help the party consolidate votes in North Karnataka. But Shikaripura’s voters argue that in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, I won by the highest margin in the state and was at sixth in the country in the winning margin.  My constituency voters have suggested that I file the nomination from Shikaripura and give son Raghavendra the responsibility of election work. So I have decided to contest from Shikaripura, I will convince the high command in this regard.

Lastly, on the demand for separate religion status for Lingayats, why you are maintaining a studious silence? 
 The party has decided to remain silent on the issue. We have the Akhila Bharathiya Veershaiva Mahasabha, this is the highest body which can take decisions. Veteran politician Shamanur Shivashankarappa is the Mahasabha  President, he is wise enough to take a decision. The party will abide by any decision of the Mahasabha. It was the CM’s agenda to blow up the issue but he will not get any benefit from it. If we react, it will cause damage to the party. We have decided to remain silent though Congress leaders have provoked us.