The introspection meeting of the BJP held on Thursday to decipher reasons for its miserable defeat in the recently held Karnataka Assembly polls saw a large number of defeated candidates blaming the poll guarantees offered by the Congress and the previous BJP government’s decision to decrease the quantum of rice provided to BPL families as the main reasons for the debacle.
The party held separate meetings of MLAs as well as defeated candidates besides that of the State core committee.
During the meeting of defeated candidates, most of the participants reportedly observed that the Congress’ guarantees went a long way in wooing the voters. Some of them also felt that the internal reservation for the Scheduled Castes did not go well with some of the SC communities.
The former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who heard the participants along with party national general secretary and State in-charge Arun Singh, reportedly asked them to focus on the Lok Sabha elections and make efforts to win a maximum number of seats.
Kuruba community
Meanwhile, a few legislators are also learnt to have taken exception to the denial of the ticket to senior leader and party’s OBC face K.S. Eshwarappa. They reportedly expressed concern that keeping Mr. Eshwarappa out of the poll fray had resulted in the party losing out on the support of his Kuruba community. They also felt that denying the ticket to Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi had a negative impact on the party.
The former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai told media persons after the meeting that issues related to fixing specific responsibilities and targets for the party MLAs ahead of the Lok Sabha elections were also discussed.
Leader of the Opposition
Mr. Bommai said Mr. Singh elicited the views of party MLAs on the selection of the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. A decision on the selection would be made soon, he said.
The BJP is yet to hold its legislature party meeting to elect the Leader of the Opposition. In fact, the delay had already caused concern among the newly elected MLAs. The Leader of the Opposition would have to be elected before the legislature session commencing on July 7.
State tour from June 20
The Opposition BJP has decided to embark upon a State tour by its leaders from June 20 to 25 to create public awareness about the achievements of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre in the last nine years and also to prepare the party for the upcoming taluk/zilla panchayat and Lok Sabha polls. According to sources, seven teams of leaders would tour different districts.
