Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said a decision will be taken within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to hold its convention in Mandya district, about 100 km from Bengaluru, adding to the ruling party’s efforts to reach out to the Vokkaliga community to expand its support base.
The BJP is trying hard to get the backing of Vokkaliga, a land-owning and dominant political community, who have in the recent past stood firmly behind former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S).
The BJP has been trying to get youngsters in the region to look beyond the JD(S) and consolidate under the broader identity of Hindu as the party continues to experiment with nudging out caste-based politics with Hindutva in the 2023 assembly election.
“People from all parts of the state are coming to the BJP. Kolar and Mandya are especially seeing this big influx. They are being inducted in batches. People, especially the youth are showing keen interest to join BJP in southern Karnataka. A strong young leadership is set to emerge in Mandya. A strong wave is seen in Mandya in favour of the BJP,” Bommai said.
His statements come at a time when the BJP has been trying to increase its presence in the region where it has so far been able to grow only inorganically. In 2019, the BJP backed Sumalatha Amarnath (Sumalatha Ambareesh) in the Lok Sabha election to defeat former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil in his electoral debut.
{{/usCountry}}His statements come at a time when the BJP has been trying to increase its presence in the region where it has so far been able to grow only inorganically. In 2019, the BJP backed Sumalatha Amarnath (Sumalatha Ambareesh) in the Lok Sabha election to defeat former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil in his electoral debut.
{{/usCountry}}This was followed by the bypoll victory in KR Pete in the December 2019 election in which KC Narayana Gowda, who defected from the JD(S) won on a BJP ticket, registering the BJP’s first ever victory in the district.
The Old Mysuru region, of which Mandya is a significant part, is the biggest strength of the JD(S) and locks horns with the Congress for dominance. However, there has been an agreement within the grassroots workers of the BJP and JD(S) sometimes to join hands to defeat the Congress.
The BJP is hoping that with its efforts, it can gain some seats in this region to return to power with an absolute majority in 2023.
The JD(S) are unrelenting to keep its source of power intact and have kicked off its election campaign to cement its position in these regions despite recent exits.