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Shah arrives in K’taka today amid buzz of leadership change
The development comes at a time when Karnataka has been mired in several controversies, including a hijab ban in educational institutions, non-Hindus being prohibited from conducting business during annual temple fairs and mostly recently the right-wing boycotting halal meat sale in the state.
Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to Karnataka on Thursday has stoked speculation of a possible leadership change in the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a rejig in the state’s council of ministers.
The development comes at a time when Karnataka has been mired in several controversies, including a hijab ban in educational institutions, non-Hindus being prohibited from conducting business during annual temple fairs and mostly recently the right-wing boycotting halal meat sale in the state.
Party functionaries aware of the details said that the central high command has ruled out any changes in the government and backed chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, however, there is a clamour from a certain section within the BJP to appoint a new state unit president ahead of the assembly elections in 2023 and possibly before the term of the incumbent gets over in July.
“Many people think that to win the election, the party organisation needs to be strong and the current president Nalin Kumar Kateel has been unable to strengthen the party and make it battle-ready. They are hoping from Shah to give a go-ahead for restructuring the state unit,” said a state functionary, requesting anonymity.
The functionary said, the party unit was “barely active” during the Covid pandemic and stuck to distributing food and other essentials allocated by the Centre and the state.
Shah — who will be accompanied by national general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh — is expected to attend the core committee meeting on Friday, meet state leaders to take stock of the preparations for the election and shape up the party’s campaign.
“The central leadership is of the view that like Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur, where BJP recently won elections, the issue of development and people-centric schemes should be the core of the electioneering. However, ideological issues will also find space in the election campaign. The question is how will the state leadership balance the two,” said a second leader.
The state unit is also hopeful that the central leadership will resolve the long-pending issue of intra-party differences.
“There is section of leaders, including Kateel who are seen to be close to national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh who previously has had an uneasy working relation with (former CM) BS Yeddiyurappa and now, with Bommai. There is a fear that this factionalism could prove costly for the party in 2023,” the first functionary quoted above said.
The functionary said the party has a difficult task of balancing the caste equations in the state, which would require the leaders to “bury differences and set aside personal ambitions” to retain power.
“Karnataka is the only state in the southern region where the BJP has carved out a space. It is important for the party to set the house in order,” the functionary said.
While a senior leader in Delhi said there is no question of replacing Kateel before his three-year term gets over in July; the second state functionary said some names mooted to replace Kateel include the current national general secretary CT Ravi, lawmaker Shobha Karandlaje and former minister Arvind Limbavalli.
“There is a sense in the party that the central leadership wants to give young and fresh faces prominence in the run-up to the elections. The party has consciously been promoting younger people in decision-making roles,” the second functionary said.
