As the battle intensifies on the State’s political turf ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections, the ruling BJP is preparing the ground to wrest from the Opposition about 50 constituencies where it narrowly lost or stood second in the 2018 elections.
The State executive that is meeting here next week is expected to finalise a road map to win these constituencies. Party sources said that the party had identified its strengths and weaknesses in these constituencies, and strategies would be evolved to win them, besides retaining the 120 seats that the party had in the current Assembly.
“The State executive in Bengaluru will more or less launch the election preparation and spadework required since we will have only two more State executives before the general elections,” the sources added.
These issues are learnt to have figured when veteran leader B. S. Yediyurappa chaired a meeting of BJP leaders, including Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and party State president Nalin Kumar Kateel, on Sunday. This was the first meeting chaired by Mr. Yediyurappa after he was appointed to the party’s parliamentary board and the Central Election Committee. Party sources said that informal discussions were held on various strategies that could be adopted by the party in the coming months.
BJP spokesman M.G. Mahesh told The Hindu that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Mr. Yediyurappa would tour 50 constituencies each starting from September 7.
As part of the State-wide strategy to boost the party’s prospects, the party would hold a Dalit morcha convention in Mysuru, yuva morcha convention in Belagavi and mahila morcha convention in Hubballi, besides holding a raitha morcha convention. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Mangaluru has been a real morale booster for the party, which has been jolted after the murder of Praveen Nettaru,” he said.
The BJP, which has planned six Janotsava conventions across the State to highlight the government’s achievements, is expecting a crowd of about two lakh on September 8 when the first such convention will be held at Doddaballapur.
