Amid the boycott of ministers loyal to former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, the Bharatiya Janata Party state unit has chalked out the strategy for the 2014 general elections that includes projecting Jagadish Shettar as the chief minister candidate.
The crucial chintan bhaitak meeting of state BJP leaders held at a private hotel on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Saturday discussed the ongoing political developments. After the exit of former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, the party held the full-fledged day-long meeting.
To counter Mr Yeddyurappa and his new political outfit KJP, the BJP state unit has formally decided to project Jagadish Shettar as the chief minister candidate for the 2014 general elections, a Lingayat leader from north Karnataka. The party’s central parliamentary board will soon ratify Mr Shettar’s name, Hubli-Dharwad MP, Prahlad Joshi told reporters after the meeting.
The state unit made a tactical move by projecting Mr Shettar as the CM candidate.
With this decision, the party seems to have decided to retain its conventional Lingayat vote bank, particularly the heartland of north Karnataka. Besides, the party has decided not to touch the defiant MLAs who openly identified with B.S. Yeddyurappa till Mr Shettar presents the budget.
The party has announced a series of election campaign meetings and programmes for the next two-three months.
Followed by the core committee and state office-bearers’ meeting, the party state leadership convened a ministers’ meeting and only 12 ministers turned up at the meeting. However, loyalist ministers of Mr Yeddyurappa, C.M. Udasi, Umesh Katti, Murgesh Nirani, M.P. Renukacharaya, Shobha Karandlaje, Basavaraj Bommai and V. Somanna did not attend the meeting.
Ministers who are knocking the doors of the Congress party, C.P. Yogeshwar and B.N. Bachhe Gowda, stayed away from the meeting. Ministers Balachandra Jarakeholi, Varthur Prakash and Anand Asnotikar also did not attended the crucial chintan bhaitak of the BJP.