BJP president Amit Shah arrived here on Saturday on a three-day visit to Karnataka to re-energise the rank and file. He asserted that the party stood united and would return to power in next year’s assembly polls under the leadership of state unit chief B.S. Yeddyurappa.
“Friends, our party stands united, and is geared up to take to the electoral battlefield under the leadership of Yeddyurappaji in coming days, and see to it that we form a BJP government in the state,” Mr. Shah told party workers near the Kempe Gowda International Airport here.
Mr. Shah was accorded a rousing reception by BJP workers.
He claimed the people had decided to vote the BJP to power as the party had been exposing the “corrupt, polarising and oppressive” rule of the Congress in the last five years.
“I am hopeful that the way the party, for the last five years, has been fighting against the corrupt, oppressive and polarising rule of the Congress, the people of this great state of Karnataka have decided to vote the BJP to power,” he said.
Mr. Shah said he had come here to realise the resolution of forming the next BJP government in Karnataka.
“I have come here amidst BJP workers to realise Ab Ki Baar, BJP Sarkar (This time, a BJP government) resolution,” he added.
He said when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Vijay Rath’ (victory chariot) would reach Karnataka in next February-March, party workers should be ready with their quest to make inroads into the southern India by winning the Karnataka assembly polls.
Mr. Shah has a packed schedule and would try to bring the factional fights in the party to an end.
BJP state president and former chief minister Yeddyurappa has been facing criticism over his “arbitrary” style of functioning with some party leaders expressing their unhappiness with him.
Mr. Shah’s programmes during his three-day stay include interaction with intellectuals, meeting religious leaders, state functionaries, legislators, MPs, and leaders of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
On Sunday, he will take part in the Political Affairs Committee meeting of the party and visit Adi Chunchanagiri Math in Nagamangala in Mandya district and meet the seer, who is the religious leader of Vokkaligas, the second most powerful community in Karnataka.
He will also meet Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
On the third day, he will address party “vistaraks” (volunteers) who had fanned out across the state to get feedback from the people.
