Having full confidence that Karnataka Janata Paksha president B.S. Yeddyurappa will join its fold, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to go it alone in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, in all the 28 constituencies, in the State.
A decision to this effect is learnt to have been taken at a meeting of the party’s core committee — the highest decision-making body of the party’s State unit — on Saturday. The meeting is also learnt to have decided to request its central leadership to take an early decision on the proposal for merging the KJP with the BJP.
“We are sure to include Mr. Yeddyurappa into our fold. What is yet to be known is when it will happen,” a prominent BJP leader told The Hindu .
According to sources, the core committee decided against any alliance in the wake of its ally Janata Dal (Secular) announcing that it would sever links with it. The party leaders are learnt to have decided to put an end to the confusion over alliances. Though the meeting did not finalise the date for the visit of its national campaign committee chairman Narendra Modi to Bangalore, it set deadlines for completing various organisational processes — such as formation of the new office-bearers’ team and constitution of some of the pending district units and appointment of in-charge leaders for each Lok Sabha constituency — which are required to be done ahead of his visit.
While the pending district units would be constituted before September 10, the party leaders are likely to discuss the plan of action on preparations for the Lok Sabha elections as well as public meeting to be organised as part of Mr. Modi’s visit with the former national president of the party M. Venkaiah Naidu by September 14.
The party is also learnt to have decided to hold a protest against the UPA government on Monday for effecting a steep increase in the prices of petrol and diesel.
