Former chief minister and veteran BJP leader BS Yediyurappa on Thursday called on the party to secure a majority independently in the 2028 Karnataka Assembly elections and remove the Congress government from power.
Addressing the state executive meeting held in the city, where he was felicitated for completing 50 years in politics, Yediyurappa urged party workers to work towards forming the government on their own. In his remarks, he did not refer to the party’s alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular).
“I want to ask of you one thing. In the upcoming Assembly elections, we should come to power on our own and thus remove this corrupt Congress government. I know it is not hard for you and I am confident that you will remove the Congress government,” he said.
The BJP has governed Karnataka twice but has never won a simple majority on its own. On both occasions, Yediyurappa became chief minister with the support of independents or defectors, in a political exercise that came to be known as “Operation Kamala”.
Now 82, Yediyurappa said he remained willing to campaign actively for the party. “God willing I can roam the state for another five to six years,” he said. “I am ready to come wherever you want me and work for the party.”
{{/usCountry}}Now 82, Yediyurappa said he remained willing to campaign actively for the party. “God willing I can roam the state for another five to six years,” he said. “I am ready to come wherever you want me and work for the party.”
{{/usCountry}}The BJP also passed four resolutions at the meeting at the Palace Grounds. It includes rampant corruption in the state, misuse of government funds, growing drug menace, agrarian problem and the garbage crisis in Bengaluru.
The party’s state president, BY Vijayendra, said Karnataka had already entered an election phase and urged workers to prepare for a series of polls due over the coming months, including gram panchayat, taluk and zilla panchayat elections, council polls, assembly by-elections and elections to the Greater Bengaluru Authority. “We need to be in election mode and win all the upcoming elections. These are like a preface to the 2028 assembly polls,” he said.
He also said dissatisfaction with the government was growing and called on party members to remain united. “There is public anger against the government, we have together given this government a chill, the election season will begin in the next six to seven months. Let us work as one voice in the elections,” he said.
Vijayendra accused the government led by chief minister Siddaramaiah of failing to fill vacancies and address public concerns. “The people of the state have lost complete faith in this government. People from all sections are in distress. Although 2,85,000 jobs are vacant, no appointments have been made. They are anti-people, anti-poor, anti-women and creating anarchy in the state,” he said.
He also alleged that some legislators from the ruling party were dissatisfied. “The situation has come to a point where the ruling party’s MLAs have revolted against this government. Chief minister Siddaramaiah himself is trying to appease the MLAs by sending them abroad because they are not able to provide funds. Amidst all this, the responsibility on us has increased. People are looking at us and we are telling them about the government’s failures,” he said.
Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat described the meeting as both a review and a planning exercise, saying it reflected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a developed India and reaffirmed the party’s resolve to regain power in Karnataka.
He invoked the legacy of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and recalled former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s words that when the BJP rises, “darkness will fade and the lotus will bloom,” describing it as a call for organisational renewal. He also noted that the party had grown from its origins in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh into what he described as the world’s largest political organisation.