BJP’s national executive meeting, which concluded in New Delhi on January 17, has brought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s concerns over the party’s political journey in the southern States to the fore.
Mr. Modi’s various interventions during the course of the two-day meet of national executive point to the fact that the BJP is grappling with some fundamental issues of dealing with established regional parties in these States, and one satrap in its own party in Karnataka.
According to senior sources in the BJP, Mr. Modi made it a point to praise Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay who has been on a yatra across the State for a while now. “Not just praise, Prime Minister Modi also asked five leaders from each State unit to participate in the yatra,” said a source present at the meeting.
On the sidelines of the national executive meet, Mr. Modi also spoke one-on-one with former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, a move that points to the fact that the BJP in the State is flailing and Mr. Yeddyurappa is still needed to steady the ship.
Mr. Modi also mentioned the cultural and spiritual ties revived by the Kashi Tamil Sangamam programme held in Varanasi, an important counter point of BJP’s cultural nationalism to the Dravidian politics of Tamil Nadu.
All of this shows, the actual frontier now for the party’s political expansion is South India.
“The presentation by the Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and State chief Nalin Kateel can be described as tentative at best. In the course of the presentation they said that visits by Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J.P. Nadda had ‘improved’ the situation, which means an admission that things are not very good in a State where the BJP is in power,” said a source.
Prime Minister Modi’s tete-a-tete with Mr. Yeddyurappa directly after the presentation reflected the concerns raised by it. “Rather than change of leadership, it was mostly about appeasing Mr. Yeddyurappa, who has concerns over his son’s [B.Y. Vijayendra] future, and ensure that he does not undermine the already precarious situation for the party,” said the source.
Sources close to Mr. Yeddyurappa said the conversation was about some developmental works in Shivamogga, and a possible visit by Prime Minister Modi.
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Karnataka polls are important to the BJP as it’s the only holdout among southern States in going the BJP way. It also demonstrates that while BJP has been successful in combating the Congress (the main Opposition in Karnataka), the real fight will be in combating regional parties in Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
“BJP has been successful in finding counter narratives against the Congress, not just in the northern States but also in Karnataka, but what narratives and offers can we go against regional parties? In Telangana, the labarathi [beneficiary] narrative comes up against a super-labarthi State Government, while in Tamil Nadu, the cultural nationalism keeps coming up against Dravidian politics. To go ahead in these States, without a victory in Karnataka will be a difficult task,” said the source.
Mr. Modi’s valedictory address at the national executive meeting was almost 80 minutes long and was full of suggestions and future tasks, but it was his interventions on the sidelines that shows a fuller picture.
