Winning 20 seats: BJP in tour mode

Bengaluru: Undeterred by the fact that an early start to the campaign ahead of Assembly polls did not help the party wrest power in May, leaders of the state unit of BJP will set out on a state-wide tour on Thursday in their quest to win 20 of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in next year's elections. 

Sources in the party said three teams have been constituted-each headed by state unit president B S Yeddyurappa, former chief minister Jagadish Shettar and former minister K S Eshwarappa-to travel across various districts and galvanize party workers through interactions and prompt them to switch into an election mood.  Unlike during Assembly polls when central leaders called the shots, the leadership has handed the responsibility of winning maximum seats to local leaders. Therefore, these state unit leaders would meet with district core committees in which MPs, MLAs, MLCs and district unit leaders would attend. They would also take Shakti Kendra pramukhs to these meetings to discuss strategy for Lok Sabha polls. During the meeting with local leaders, state leaders would review the situation in ground zero in each Lok Sabha constituency. They would also  assess the potential of ticket aspirants, factor the strengths and weaknesses of opposition parties, and the winability of each Member of Parliament of the party, sources added. 

After taking feed back from district core committee leaders, the state team would chalk out a plan to identify potential candidates for constituencies now represented by Congress and JD (S) MPs. 

Sources in the party maintained that an early start of the tour would help the leaders assess the situation in all Lok Sabha constituencies and elicit the opinion of party cadre about performance of sitting MPs of BJP . It was stated that, few sitting party MPs are facing anti incumbency, and therefore the state tour would help leaders to examine the factual position, sources added. 

Meanwhile, the state unit has constituted three team to embark on state tour from tomorrow. Former ministers Shobha Karandlaje and  Govind Karjol would accompany Mr Yeddyurappa while former ministers R Ashok and Aravind Limbavali would tour along with Mr Jagadish Shettar. Mr Eshwarappa, Mr C T Ravi and Mr Laxman Savadi would form the third team.