THE BJP PUT up its best show ever in Karnataka in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, winning 25 of 28 seats in the state. A good harvest again is essential for the party to achieve its target of 400 plus seats this time and to preserve its hopes of making inroads in south India intact.
It is also the state party president B.Y. Vijayendra's first big test. He travelled the length and breadth of the state in the past four months to make the cadres battle-ready. But a bigger challenge seems to be the resentment among those denied the tickets.
Vijayendra, 48, is the younger of the two sons of former chief minister and Lingayat strongman B.S. Yediyurappa. He has been battling hostility within the party ever since his elevation to the top post, but the ticket distribution triggered an open revolt. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, he talks about the challenges within the party, the impact of the Congress's guarantees and Modi's guarantees and his party's strategies. Excerpts:
Q/The BJP leadership took six months after losing the assembly elections to appoint you as state president. Why?
A/ After the major setback in the assembly polls, where the BJP was reduced to 66 seats and the Congress won 135, the party leadership was in introspection, and trying to pin down the reasons for the debacle. It was also the time when the party was scouting for the next party president considering the ground realities in the state.
Q/ Did you get the post because you are Yediyurappa's son?
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