‘NOTA’ campaign in Varuna over denial of ticket to Vijayendra

Some disgruntled BJP workers in Varuna appear to be unable to digest the decision to deny poll ticket to B.S. Yeddyurappa’s son B.Y. Vijayendra to face Yathindra Siddaramaiah of the Congress. A few of them, who call themselves admirers of Mr. Vijayendra and saddened BJP workers, have launched ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) campaign in Varuna to vent their ire against the BJP top brass.

Though the party leadership maintains that all is well in the party and that all the workers would support the candidate, Thotadappa Basavaraju, the dissatisfaction in the BJP camp has not died down and is likely to dent the party’s poll prospects. Pamphlets in Kannada calling for a NOTA campaign against the BJP candidate are being circulated on social media.

Whoever has launched the campaign blames a Union Minister and a senior RSS functionary for “messing up” the party’s chances in Varuna. The campaigners believe that if NOTA gets the highest number of votes, there will be a possibility of re-election. Though there is no provision for re-election in such a case, the hurt supporters say they want to send a message to the Central leadership for ignoring the “majority opinion” on candidate.

In the pamphlet, the large number of people who assembled at Nanjangud on the day Mr. Vijayendra was denied ticket is compared to the number accompanying Mr. Basavaraju, who is described as a “loyalist” of the Union Minister, when he filed his nomination papers.

The campaigners also talk about the impact of the “Varuna mess” on the BJP candidates in other constituencies of Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts.

A Lingayat leader from Varuna associated with the campaign told

The Hindu on the condition of anonymity that the BJP workers in Varuna were upset over the developments and it might reflect on the elections. He said messages were being shared from a WhatsApp group created by Mr. Vijayendra’s supporters on exercising NOTA. “We want to know how many will respond to our anguish,” he said.