Congress should follow BJP strategy in denying ticket to seniors: Satish Jarkiholi

He, however, says it is difficult to do so in the Congress, as, at times, seniors are given ticket despite the party knowing the fact that they will lose

KPCC working president Satish Jarkiholi speaking to journalist at his home office in Belagavi on Friday. | Photo Credit: P.K. BADIGER

“The BJP’s model of creating opportunities for younger generation of leaders, by denying ticket to seniors who are likely to lose, is good. Other parties, including the Congress, can follow it,’‘ KPCC working president Satish Jarkiholi said in Belagavi on Friday. He was speaking to journalists at his home office.

“Political parties need to follow a systematic strategy to win elections. The BJP denied ticket to 30-40 senior leaders, including outgoing MLAs. This strategy has worked for it. The Congress can follow a similar strategy. However, it is difficult to implement it in the Congress. At times, we give ticket to seniors, despite knowing that they will lose. We should also give ticket only to those candidates whose victory is definite. We should not go by other factors,’‘ he said.

Mr. Jarkiholi said that there is a need to drop some seniors who can not register a win in Belagavi and also in other districts. “If we do it across the State, we can win 20 seats more,’‘ he said.

He said that Congress leader G. Parameshwara’s statement about KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar struggling to manage the Congress should not be interpreted in a negative way. What Dr. Parameshwara means is that Mr. Shivakumar is working very hard to ensure the party’s victory in the next polls. If there are any mistakes along the way, it is the duty of all Congress members to support him. That is all he meant, Mr. Jarkiholi said.

“Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) practised disruptive politics. That snatched away around 13% of the Congress votes. That led to our poor performance in Gujarat,’‘ he said. “It is below our expectations of winning 60-70 seats,’‘ he said.

“The Gujarat poll results are not due to Modi magic or development work as is being claimed by the BJP. It is because AAP played disruptive politics. They took away around 13% of the vote that belonged rightfully to the Congress. We have been directly hit by it,’‘ he said.

Asked if regional parties such as the Janata Dal(S) can affect the Congress’ chances in the State like the AAP did in Gujarat, he refused to equate the Janata Dal(S) to AAP. He said that the situation in the State is different from that in Gujarat. “The Janata Dal(S) has its influence in a limited area. It will win in some areas and we have to focus on areas that we can win,’‘ he said.

To a query, he said that there are some factions in the district and State-level Congress units. “However, factions are there in every party, whether it is the Congress, the BJP or the Janata Dal(S). There is no politics without factions. We have to move on considering all these factors,’‘ he said.

“The Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Maharashtra should work together to end the law and order problems arising out of the border dispute. State reorganisation is a settled fact. The borders cannot be redrawn again. Everyone should understand this,’‘ he said.