‘70% of our MLAs are scared of polls’

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Smal scale industries minister Narasimha Nayak, popularly known as Raju Gowda, is considered a staunch supporter of former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and is one of those who knows his leader’s mind from close quarters. The BJP legislator from Shorapur in Gulbarga, has done quite a few somersaults in his short political career, and was associated with former tourism minister Janardhan Reddy. He was even part of the famous “Hyderabad rebellion” piloted by the Reddys when legislators were shuttled to the AP capital in an attempt to dislodge Yeddyurappa from the CM’s seat. Now a BSY loyalist, the Scheduled Tribe (ST) leader from north Karnataka speaks about the revolt in the BJP and how caste based politics has affected Karnataka.

Compared to the last three coups, how different is the one you are now planning against Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda?
Officers are not taking us seriously and are not implementing the works in our constituencies. Many MLAs have been complaining of this and want to discuss the problem with the chief minister and other leaders. Perhaps, this is the reason why they have been asking for a legislature party meeting.

Isn’t the demand for a legislature party meet to discuss constituency problems, a ploy of the BSY group to press for a change of leadership?
I am too small a leader to comment on this. You have to ask the seniors. But, I personally feel that whatever may be the problem, the four top guns—BJP national general secretary Ananth Kumar, CMSadananda Gowda, BJP state chief K.S. Eshwarappa and former CM B.S. Yeddyurappa — should come together and sort it out.

What demands did BSY loyalists make when they met at PWD minister C.M. Udasi’s residence recently?
I was late for the meeting. What I came to know was that the ministers were trying to tell the legislators that the Chief Minister and other ministers were not co-operating with them. The legislators told the ministers that they should do their best to get their (MLAs) work done in the departments concerned.

Do you really believe the atmosphere is congenial for them to sit across the table and trash out issues?
Nothing is impossible. If someone like Opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley gives a clear direction on what we should do to achieve our goal, state leaders can easily solve everything. Haven’t we seen them sitting together at the core committee meeting and selecting candidates for the Council election? If the central leadership does not intervene, it will negatively impact the party and legislators as well.

Do you think a change of leadership (CM) will solve the problems the party is facing?
This is a sensitive issue, something I cannot answer. The top leaders need to answer to this. Frankly speaking, making statements or going to the media will not help us solve anything.

Moving on, will the caste card being played by one BJP group help the party?
One cannot win elections with the support of any one community. The dominant communities feel that without them, no one can win or grow. There is a saying in my village: The fortress walls stand straight as long as small slices of stones are inserted between the big ones to support them. If you remove the small pieces, the structure becomes weak and the wall may collapse. Similarly, political parties need small communities as much as they need the bigger ones.

Why are so many BJP legislators scared of going to polls?
Nearly 70 per cent of them are afraid of facing elections. They feel that in spite of doing good work in their constituencies, their prospects may not be as bright as they think it is. Reason: Our internal squabbles. People keep telling me that you (BJP) have done good work but the inner-party tussles have spoilt it all.

If the current situation is any indication, who do you think will win the next election?
There are four players—the BJP, Congress JD(S) and the smaller player, B. Sreeramulu’s party. Infighting in the Congress has just begun and I bet it will not stop. The JD(S) has a limited presence why is why I feel that if our leaders are united, we stand a better chance of coming to power. We still have 10 months before the polls, we can take corrective measures to win people’s confidence.