The lacklustre performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Vengara Assembly by-election has jolted the party at a time when it is attempting an image makeover through the Janaraksha Yatra.
The decision to go ahead with the yatra at the time of the by-election had sparked off a debate within the party since a prominent section felt that it was untimely and would shift the focus from the election campaign to the conduct of the yatra.
This was reportedly turned down by the leadership on the premise that Vengara was not a segment where the party was still not a force to reckon with. A slight increase in the vote share there, it was felt, would not do any good in bolstering its image that had taken a beating following the medical college bribery scam and allied issues.
Since the yatra was planned as a precursor to the Lok Sabha election campaign, postponing it to a later date ensuring total involvement of national president Amit Shah and other leaders was felt to be more advantageous.
Party sources told The Hindu that attempts to remind the leadership that the original slogan raised proposed to be raised at the yatra, ‘political violence of the CPI(M)’ had itself become almost insignificant in the wake of the bilateral peace parleys between the BJP and CPI(M) leaders did not attain fruition. But these were brushed aside and it was resolved to go ahead with the campaign. Subsequently, the slogan, ‘jihadi terror’ was also added to lend more bite and verve to the campaign.
In order to overcome the complaint that the yatra would rob the sheen of the campaign, it was routed through Vengara too, but it seems to have had the reverse impact. The presence of a legion of BJP leaders and Union Ministers vehemently campaigning against the minorities might have also led to a consolidation of their votes in favour of the rival fronts.
The BJP State leadership would have to address a volley of uneasy questions regarding the fall in votes and also the notable performance of the SDPI candidate in the constituency.
One of them is that how its much-touted campaign against terrorism was allowed to go astray. The poll outcome is sure to set the ground for a new row within the party, the sources said.
