[Modi's no-show in the recent days in Karnataka poll campaign is really hard to miss. In fact, it's too conspicuous. Even in Delhi state poll, forget about Gujarat, UP, Bihar, he was the (overwhelmingly predominant) face of the party.
Also hard to miss another (new) star in the firmament - Yogi Adityanath, too ubiquitous in the intial phase, questioning Siddaramaih's Hindu identity every now and then. He has, as it appears, been sufficiently defanged by the shocking jolts delivered by his personal fiefdom, Gorakhpur, and also Phulpur. So, it has now fallen upon Amit Shah, the valiant warrior, to hold the fort, being backed up by a scam tainted 75-year old Lingayat leader Yeddyurappa (nominally heading a squabbling lot?) with a visibly losing grip over his own community. (Ref.: <<A meeting of about 30 Lingayat pontiffs, including four powerful senior swamis, on Saturday expressed support for Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah who has backed their demand for a separate minority religion status. Lingayats, who have supported the BJP from the late 1990s, influence an estimated 123 of Karnataka's 224 assembly constituencies. Such a public expression of support for an individual or political party ahead of state assembly elections has not been done in the last few decades. Karnataka goes to polls on May 12. Pontiff Maate Mahadevi, who has a lot of clout in North Karnataka, said after the meeting: "Siddaramaiah has supported our demand. We will support him.">> at < https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/lingayat-pontiffs-support-siddaramaiah-ask-bjp-to-back-minority-religion-claim/articleshow/63656040.cms?utm_source%3DWAPusers%26utm_medium%3Dfbshare%26utm_campaign%3Dsocialsharebutton&from=mdr >). And, it appears to be proving a bit too much for him.] I/II. https://www.dailyo.in/politics/narendra-modi-yeddyurappa-karnataka-assembly-polls-siddaramaiah-bjp/story/1/23319.html Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018: Why Modi has taken a backseat As a smart strategist, the BJP’s lead campaigner knows how and when to keep out of rough weather. POLITICS | 5-minute read | 06-04-2018 Ashok K Singh For the first time since he came to power in 2014, the man who led from the front is taking a backseat in a major state election. BJP’s star campaigner and the most formidable among all leaders since Indira Gandhi, Narendra Modi seems to have become wiser. He doesn’t want to put his personal reputation on line for the fear of getting retired hurt in a semi-final match - the Karnataka state Assembly elections. As the BJP’s lead campaigner, Modi has to keep his resources, energy and reputation intact for the make or break final match - the 2019 showdown. That’s why, and also in a reversal of the trend, the BJP has put up a chief ministerial candidate in the Karnataka elections. Making BS Yeddyurappa the party's chief ministerial candidate was an admission of the fact that the BJP is on a sticky wicket in Karnataka. Modi has had no option but to revise his strategy for the only southern state where it had earlier held power and where it’s staking claim to win. modi3-copy_040618055_040618070844.jpg Yeddyurappa’s candidature has several disadvantages. The two most obvious minuses are his age and his tainted past. He is 75. That is against the avowed policy of age limit Modi has set for party leaders. BJP stalwarts LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant Sinha have reasons to be convinced now that they were forced to retire to the Margadarshak Mandal not on account of their age, but their political weight. Other party leaders, Kalraj Mishra of Uttar Pradesh and Najma Heptullah must also ask why they were eased out of the Cabinet after having turned 75. The biggest disadvantage of Yeddyurappa is his tainted past. Modi has never minced words in attacking the Congress and other opposition leaders on corruption and has always sought to distinguish the BJP for its so-called clean image. But he bent over backwards to project a leader who had to resign as chief minister of Karnataka in 2011 on corruption charges. It was the BJP central leadership that had forced him to quit after he was found guilty of corruption by a Lokayukta report. Of course, the decision to project him was dictated by political compulsion even as Yeddyurappa had split the party that resulted in the defeat of the BJP. He formed his own party Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) after being forced to resign and divided the Lingayats votes that led to the drubbing of the BP in the 2013 Assembly elections. Modi and Amit Shah were aware what the wily old leader is capable of. Yeddyurappa had famously said after the BJP’s drubbing in 2013, “I have made the BJP realise what it is without me.” Modi is not leading the campaign in Karnataka unlike Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and most recently Gujarat, where the BJP didn’t project chief ministerial candidates and Modi led from the front. That’s because Modi knows the Congress is favourite to win Karnataka. He doesn’t want to take the blame and dent his star campaigner’s image before the Lok Sabha elections. Yeddyurappa as such is a blessing in disguise for Modi, though not for the BJP. He will wear the cross, not Modi, if the BJP loses Karnataka. Yedyyurappa is facing the wrath of his own supporters who followed him into the KJP when he split the BJP, but now fear will be sidelined. Some of them are aspirants for tickets for the seats that the KJP had won in 2013 or the seats it lost marginally. The number of both categories of seats is substantial. The KJP had won six seats, but on as many as 70 seats it was either second or gave close fights to the BJP and the Congress. Those seats have claimants from both the erstwhile KJP as well as the BJP. It’s a problem that threatens to fuel rebellion within the BJP. If Modi is shaky on Karnataka front, Amit Shah’s repeated fumbling indicates his nervousness. Shah is a backroom strategist, not a mass leader. But thrown into the heat of elections as a front campaigner, he has repeatedly fumbled in public with words that the Congress, including Rahul Gandhi, has latched on to exploit. On the day the election date was announced, Amit Shah made a gaffe. Referring to chief minister Siddaramaiah, Shah in a slip of tongue remarked, “Recently, a retired Supreme Court judge said if ever there was a competition for the most corrupt government, then the Yeddyurappa government will get number one..” Yeddyurappa wasn’t amused. More embarrassment was to follow with BJP’s Dharward MP Pralhad Joshi’s gaffe at an election meeting. When Shah attacked Siddaramaiah for having failed to do anything for the SC/ST in Karnataka and promised what Modi would do, Joshi goofed up in translating (from Hindi to Kannada), “Narendra Modi will not do anything for SC/ST sections.” Shah didn’t notice the faux pas and moved on. Joshi too moved on, perhaps, to hide the embarrassment. The audience had the last laugh. For a party that has been promoting pseudo science and merrily mixing myth with history Amit Shah’s faltering words are being seen as the BJP’s floundering fortunes in Karnataka. Modi as a smart strategist knows how and when to keep out of rough weather. II. http://www.business-standard.com/article/elections/karnataka-polls-a-test-case-for-amit-shah-many-big-guns-training-in-run-up-118040600280_1.html Karnataka polls a test case for Amit Shah: Many big guns training in run-up CM candidate Yeddyurappa is over 75, past the BJP's age cap for holding office, but his caste antecedent recommended him for the CM position; also, he lacks the Karnataka BJP's unqualified support Radhika Ramaseshan | New Delhi Last Updated at April 7, 2018 01:21 IST Radhika Ramaseshan B S Yeddyurappa might be the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) declared chief-ministerial candidate for Karnataka Assembly election 2018 but his position is by no means as secure as Sarbananda Sonowal’s when the latter was positioned for the top job before the Assam state election. The shadow of the former Congressman Himanta Biswa Sarma — who has since become the BJP’s ace strategist in the Northeast – loomed large over Sonowal. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah went out of their way to ensure that Sarma did not become a threat to Sonowal. BS Yeddyurappa Yeddyurappa like Dhumal? In the BJP, Yeddyurappa is being compared with Prem Kumar Dhumal. Like him, Dhumal was projected as the CM face in the recent Himachal Pradesh election, but he embarrassingly lost his own seat, and thereby the race, to a younger person, Jai Ram Thakur. Dhumal was just two years short of 75, the cap that Modi and Shah have set for those aspiring to hold an office in the party or government. Yeddyurappa is a little over 75 but his caste antecedent as the leader of the powerful intermediate caste of Lingayats recommended him for the CM’s position. Yeddyurappa lacks the Karnataka BJP’s unqualified support and Shah knows that. Shobha Karanladje Shobha Karanladje. Photo: @ShobhaBJPWorking all by themselves? He and his political associate of long years, Shobha Karanladje, a Lok Sabha MP from Udupi-Chikmagalur at present, have been accused of working “unilaterally” by allegedly drawing up the candidates’ lists for the forthcoming Assembly election without consulting Delhi or their Karnataka colleagues. On a recent visit to the state, Shah had to chide the Yeddyurappa-Shobha duo for going public with the names of some candidates. A test like Modi faced in 1998 Karnataka is Shah’s test case, just as Madhya Pradesh was for his mentor Modi in 1998. Then a BJP general secretary, Modi was appointed an MP minder before the Assembly elections were held that year, with a specific brief that he would have to reconcile the inner party feuds triggered by the regional colossuses of that period who were Sunderlal Patwa, V K Saklecha, Lakhiram Aggarwal, Kailash Joshi, Vikram Verma and Lakshminarayan Pandey – names that may not ring a bell because most of them are dead. Modi threw up his hands mid-way because some of these biggies campaigned and worked autonomously, even raising their resources from dubious godmen. The BJP lost the election and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh won a second term. D V Sadananda Gowda, K S Eshwarappa, Jagadish Shettar, Ananth Kumar, Anant Kumar HegdeToo many leaders to cope with In Bangalore, Shah has more than two thin-skinned leaders to cope with. The formidable line-up includes Yeddyurappa’s old rival, K S Eshwarappa, Jagadish Shettar, D V Sadananda Gowda and Ananth Kumar. Barring Kumar, the other three have held truncated terms as chief ministers, a fact that endows them with a certain entitlement as worthy claimants to Karnataka’s top job. These veterans have competition from younger persons like Anant Kumar Hegde, a junior minister of skill development and entrepreneurship at the Centre, Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi and Mysore MP Prathap Simha. Hegde, Joshi and Simha appropriate media space with their intemperate statements and reckless conduct as their seniors keep snapping at each other’s heels. Shah cracked the whip on December 31, 2017. As Bengaluru partied hard, the BJP chief summoned 88 of his party people, including the MPs, MLAs and legislative council members, and asked to share the reports they were tasked to prepare on their allotted Assembly seats. He forbade them from holding political meetings at hotels and resorts, perfectly kosher in Karnataka, and emphasised that only BJP offices must be used. Shah told the state leaders that indiscretions and misdemeanours on their part would not be countenanced and if there was negative feedback, the “wrong-doer” would be marginalised. K S Eshwarappa K S EshwarappaYeddyurappa-Eshwarappa antagonism However, Shah’s tough talk did not stem the long-drawn antagonism between Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa that nettled the central leaders, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Karnataka party cadre. To try and balance the two men’s conflicting claims, Shah took “disciplinary” action against two each of their supporters. Even that didn’t help. As much a personality clash, the Yeddyurappa-Eshwarappa face-off has a caste element. Eshwarappa is from the Kuruba backward caste, like Chief Minister Siddharamaiah of the Congress. But unlike Siddharamaiah, a former socialist who has rallied around the backing of the other backward castes, Dalits and the minorities and embedded the pieces on a complex caste mosaic, Eshwarappa has a limited appeal even among his caste of shepherds. Who is RSS with? To bolster his political standing, in 2016, Eshwarappa launched the Sangolli Rayana brigade, named after an 18th century warrior to mobilise the support of the backward castes and Dalits. Yeddyurappa’s loyalists perceived the brigade as a parallel power centre. To Yeddyurappa’s dismay, B L Santhosh, a national joint general secretary who was tasked with looking after Karnataka, encouraged Eshwarappa. Santhosh is an RSS “pracharak” (whole-timer) who’s not supposed to play politics. But to date, nobody from the RSS or the BJP has told him off. That might itself signify the possibility that the Sangh is not Yeddyurappa’s well-wisher and that in the end, he might plough a lonely furrow on Karnataka’s politically difficult terrain. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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