BSY removal, Santhosh role blamed for big loss

New Delhi: The BJP failed to retain the “gateway to the south” as its election strategies in Karnataka could not counter "anti-incumbency" and the "40 per cent commission sarkar" charge by the Congress, which strategically focused its campaign on local issues. As the BJP’s seat tally drastically decreased from its last Assembly election’s performance, blame games began. Voices within the party questioned the veering off of the party’s election campaign from the development agenda towards a Hindutva overtone.

What's more, according to political observers, the Karnataka verdict will likely impact the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan slated by the end of this year and will force the BJP’s poll managers to rethink their strategies for these states. In 2018, the BJP lost these three states to the Congress.

A section of the BJP state unit leaders blamed the powerful Sangh-backed national general secretary for the rout and for fielding "non-winnable" candidates in several seats. Former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, who unsuccessfully contested on the Congress ticket after the BJP refused to field him, had accused BJP national general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh, who is also from Karnataka, of partisanship in ticket distribution.

Some also questioned the central leadership’s decision to replace its then chief minister and Lingayat strongman B.S. Yediyurappa, unsettling the party’s strongest vote base. The BJP’s exercise to go in for generational change and to bring in new leadership also failed to attract votes, as of the 72 new faces it fielded this time, most lost. The party had to face a lot of rebellion over its ticket distribution. After the Karnataka verdict, the BJP leadership is expected to go in for an overhaul of its team in the state, including the state unit chief.

"We accept the mandate of the people of Karnataka with humility and thank the voters for their support. I congratulate all the winning candidates and wholeheartedly thank our karyakartas for their sincere efforts. The BJP will continue to be the voice of the people and we will work hard," said Mr Yediyurappa.

The BJP leadership failed to counter the "anti-Lingayat" narrative after it refused tickets to some prominent Lingayat leaders in the party for new faces. The party also failed to pacify the rebel candidates.

"No doubt, Mr Yediyurappa is one of the prominent leaders of the BJP and also a mass leader... Lingayat voters were already miffed over his removal from the CM post and then other voters like Vokkaliga, Kuruba, dalits and other OBCs also did not vote for us because of this narrative created by the Opposition that the BJP is only interested in the Lingayat votes," said a senior BJP leader from the state.

The BJP faced massive losses in the Lingayat bastion of northern Karnataka. Among the prominent BJP leaders who lost was BJP national general secretary C.T. Ravi.

"Today’s loss in the Assembly elections is our personal loss and not that of our ideology... We will introspect in the coming days and rectify our mistakes. Our efforts to build a Suvarna Karnataka will continue," said Mr Ravi, who lost the Chikmagalur seat.

The poll verdict made it clear that the saffron party’s strategies, including its election manifesto, ended up consolidating Muslim voters in the Congress’s favour while the BJP’s vote bank got divided over caste lines.

"Development was our main poll plank, but towards the end of the campaign, our strategy veered off towards overbearing Hindutva overtones. First, we could not counter the Congress’s narrative against us, whether it was corruption or anti-incumbency; then we failed to woo Lingayats, Vokkaligas and dalits and then our leadership failed to convince the voters that our manifesto is better than what the Congress has promised," said a senior BJP leader.