No kidding: Voters reject BJP newbies in Karnataka

BJP’s intended policy of effecting a generational shift in its administration by infusing fresh blood appears to have boomeranged, as only 14 of the 75 new faces it fielded won. In all, the party denied tickets to 18 of its sitting MLAs.
Earlier this year, when it began drawing up the strategy, the BJP brass had planned to implement the Gujarat model of replacing senior legislators, who had won multiple times, with new faces.

The party’s ‘no-repeat’ policy had paid off handsomely in Gujarat last year as BJP won with a thumping majority. However, in Karnataka, it only triggered dissidence and led to an exodus of legislators initially, and defeat in the elections eventually.

However, Chalvadi Narayanaswamy, a member of BJP’s poll management committee, said: “The move is a part of a long-term strategy to make the party stronger. This is a temporary setback. We will come back with renewed vigour. ”Experiments began with the replacement of BS Yediyurappa as chief minister with Basavaraj Bommai in 2019, but it resulted in the perception that the Lingayat veteran was being humiliated by the Brahmin lobby. Fingers were pointed at Brahmin functionaries like organisational general secretary BL Santhosh, who reportedly mooted the idea of experimenting, and Union minister Pralhad Joshi, who was blamed by a section of functionaries for eyeing the CM post.

It snowballed when theparty leadership kicked off the process of selecting candidates and when it asked some senior MLAs and ministers to step aside, a move that triggered defections.

The revolt caught the party leadership on the backfoot. It also came at a crucial stage when the campaign was just entering its peak. The BJP brass resorted to damagecontrol and compromised in the cases of ministers R Ashoka and V Somanna. The move was seen as a knee-jerk reaction and a surrender to those threatening to revolt.