The political situation in the State is set to heat up with the Bharatiya Janata Party getting ready to launch its formal campaign for the forthcoming Assembly elections from the beginning of October, though the term of the present Assembly is scheduled to end only in May 2013. According to sources in the BJP, the party is set to launch a State tour of its prominent leaders as part of the election campaign. This tour would be taken up after the appointment of the new president for the party State unit as the president has to finalise the campaign tour plan and the schedule.
The party is in the process of finding a new president as its one-man, one-post norm comes in the way of its incumbent president K.S. Eshwarappa continuing to hold fort in the wake of him joining the ministry and becoming the Deputy Chief Minister.
Sources said that the new president may be appointed by mid-September as national president Nitin Gadkari is expected to return to India from his foreign tour only on September 12.
As part of the election preparation, the BJP is learnt to have lined up about 100 organisational activities, including public meetings and conventions of its various frontal organisations. “These activities will be completed within a month,” sources said.
The party is also learnt to have shelved its earlier plans to opt for December elections along with Gujarat. “Now, we have decided against opting for early polls as the government, headed by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, is stable and free from any major infighting that could threaten its existence though there are differences among leaders. It is advantageous for us to continue with this dispensation till the end of the Assembly tenure. But we want the party organisation to be poll-ready as some leaders are of the view that the Election Commission has the power to advance the elections by a few months,” sources said.
It may be noted that the BJP had launched informal preparations for the Assembly elections early this year itself. The party held various conventions at different places of the State, including the women’s meet in Bangalore and Dalits’ meet in Mysore.
Meanwhile, speculations are rife that most of the Ministers, especially the newly inducted ones, are not in favour of early polls.
