BJP state cadre pushes for Muralidhar Rao’s ouster

BENGALURU: The BJP’s embarrassing loss in Telangana, where it couldn’t even retain four of the five seats won in 2014, has left Karnataka state BJP in-charge and party national general secretary P Muralidhar Rao in a precarious position.According to party sources, there’s a debate whether Rao has any moral right to continue as Karnataka in-charge considering he was also in-charge of Telangana elections and had camped in Hyderabad during the entire campaign. While the core state leadership may remain untouched, as party state president BS Yeddyurappa will continue to remain vital for BJP’s fortunes in the Lingayat belt and among farmers, some changes are likely.An expected development is elevating Chikkamagaluru MLA CT Ravi, a Hindutva proponent and Vokkaliga community face in the BJP. He’s being projected as the most likely to succeed Yeddyurappa as the next party president.The other name doing the rounds is sitting Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi, likely to succeed late Union minister H N Ananth Kumar as the link between the state and Centre. But one name which will become more prominent ahead of the 2019 general elections is that of RSS ideologue and BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh.With Karnataka likely to deliver the maximum number of MP seats for the party from five southern states, Santosh is being touted as the spearhead of the Karnataka campaign while his bete noire Yeddyurappa being its face.Sources in the Sangh Parivar said Santosh went to New Delhi to discuss possible changes required following the losses in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. It’s said discussions centred around changes at the Lok Sabha constituency level and key rallies required in the run-up to the polls.Meanwhile, BJP legislators felt the jolt was much required as it will press into action state leaders to stop solely depending on national president Amit Shah and PM Narendra Modi. “The losses in the north will have a ripple effect on the party cadres by jolting them into action, rather than being over-confident and depending on the Modi-Shah juggernaut,” said one legislator.