BENGALURU: The storm of assembly election may have passed for Karnataka but Bengaluru will remain the hotbed of political activity for the BJP in the run up to Lok Sabha polls and this, not just for the state but for all Southern States. BJP national president Amit Shah’s personal team of strategists and professionals, who were deployed for the assembly elections, continue to work out of Bengaluru, quietly preparing the ground for the Lok Sabha polls, albeit as a much smaller group.
Sources in the BJP suggest that closer to the parliamentary polls, this team of professionals from Bengaluru will begin work for the party in all five southern states with an enhanced focus on Karnataka essentially making their office in Bengaluru the BJP’s election headquarters for South India.
Shah’s reasoning to pick Bengaluru not only revolves around his team’s familiarity with the State leadership, resource management etc (thanks to the recently concluded polls) but also for easier recruitment, technical backup and infrastructure. Shah is looking to tap into resources from the city to organise, manage, research and run campaigns at a much larger scale this time around. Shah’s team, including members from Association of Brilliant Minds (ABM), has been asked to stay back in the city for continuous assessment of the political scenario in the state.
“A three-member team have an office in Bengaluru and continue to coordinate directly with the central leadership. The idea is to set up a control room for all Southern States right here. The focus will be state-specific analytics, campaign strategies, voter profiles and research,” said a BJP State Unit officer bearer.
“Bengaluru makes for a perfect regional headquarter for our party. Apart from our presence, the city’s connectivity, talent in terms of language, technological skills are easy to find here,” said a party volunteer. With eyes set on 20-22 seats out of 28 in Karnataka alone, Amit Shah intends to utilise his personal army to churn out region-specific, state-specific campaign strategies and has decided to rely on Bengaluru as the Southern headquarter.