The two-day national executive meeting of BJP’s Scheduled Caste (SC) Morcha concluded in Mysuru on Sunday amid calls by the party leadership to focus on improving its tally in Old Mysore region in the coming Assembly elections in the State.
The meeting held at the grand Lalitha Mahal Palace hotel in Mysuru was attended not only by 139 of the 151 members of the party’s national executive committee of the SC Morcha, but also a couple of Union Ministers of State as well Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and party’s state unit President Nalin Kumar Kateel.
Even though the meeting sought to further the party’s growth and strengthen the organisation among SCs and draw up a plan of action at the national level, the party’s national general secretary C.T. Ravi said the BJP’s focus was on entire India, but the party will naturally give special attention to areas where the party has scope to grow.
He said the party has not been able to win enough seats in Old Mysore region unlike its strength in coastal Karnataka, central Karnataka, Mumbai-Karnataka or Kalyana Karnataka. Of the 59 seats in the Old Mysore region, the party has its MLAs in only 13 seats. “We have to improve our tally here. So, we are providing special attention to old Mysore region,” he said.
The national executive of BJP’s SC Morcha, held once every three months, had held its previous meets in Haryana, Jharkand and Uttar Pradesh. The party need not necessarily hold the national executive meets only in election-bound states.
But, the party’s Karnataka Scheduled Caste Morcha chief Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said BJP’s decision to hold the national executive meeting in Mysuru was politically significant for the BJP. For, Dalits comprise the largest chunk of voters in Old Mysore region, next only to Vokkaligas, he said.
By holding the national executive meeting in the region, the party will be able to enthuse its workers ahead of the coming Assembly elections, he said. The national executive meet of SC Morcha in Mysuru was attended by the party chiefs of 35 out of the 39 district units of the organisation in Karnataka.
Also, Mr. Narayanaswamy said the party has been able to move closer to the Dalits ever since came to power by not only extending to them various government schemes, but also removing the propaganda of the Congress that the BJP was ‘anti-Dalit’.
Before the session began on Sunday, the delegates also paid a visit to Chamundeshwari Temple atop the nearby Chamundi Hills.
