BJP national president Amit Shah has inducted a team of party functionaries from across the country — a team of election managers he trusts, led by Ram Madhav, national general secretary, and Bhupendra Yadav — to run the party’s crucial campaign in the State. The State has been divided into seven regions and 11 members have been made in charge of them.
Mr. Madhav, who has been credited with successful election management in Jammu and Kashmir and in the northeast, has been made in charge of Hyderabad Karnataka (40 seats), considered to be a weak link for the party.
Mr. Yadav and Om Prakash Mathur, both close aides of Mr. Shah, have been made in charge of Bombay Karnataka (50 seats), a region where the BJP has to win big to cross the halfway mark, and coastal Karnataka (37 seats), where the party lost in 2013. Others on the team are Satish Upadhyaya, former Delhi BJP president, and Ashish Shelar, former Mumbai unit BJP president.
A centrally driven micro-managed campaign has been Mr. Shah’s style and Karnataka is no different, said a senior party leader.
The 11 election managers arrived in Bengaluru along with Mr. Shah on Tuesday night and were part of strategy meets on Wednesday.
They will camp in the regions they are made in charge of till the elections.
