Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s scheduled visit to Belgaum on Thursday is expected to hasten the process of KJP president and former CM B S Yeddyurappa’s return to the party.
Modi is visiting Belgaum to participate in the valedictory programme of the golden jubilee celebrations of Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, run by KLE University, headed by Rajya Sabha member Prabhakar Kore.
Though it is a non-political visit, the leaders belonging to both the parties are expected to urge Modi for a quick decision on extending a formal invitation to Yeddyurappa to join the BJP.
It will not be a surprise if Modi meets Yeddyurappa or his emissaries during the visit, sources said.
It may be recalled that Yeddyurappa had expressed desire to participate in the Modi’s ‘Bharatha Gellisi’ rally held in Bangalore on November 17, but was disappointed after the BJP’s national leadership ignored it.
However, the scenario has changed with BJP national president Rajnath Singh’s recent assurance that his party’s Parliamentary Board will soon take a decision on inviting Yeddyurappa for talks on the merger of the two parties.
Raising the hopes of a quick decision, Yeddyurappa had said on Monday that he would take a decision on the merger shortly.
Meanwhile, the hopes of Yeddyurappa’s return has boosted the confidence of the BJP.
The saffron party has set a target of winning about 20 seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election to realise its resolve to see Modi as the next Prime Minister.
State BJP general secretary C T Ravi told Express that KJP’s merger with BJP will make a huge difference in at least 10 Lok Sabha constituencies.
“Though the BJP was defeated in the Assembly election, the voting pattern is usually different in Lok Sabha election. We have been winning highest number of seats in Lok Sabha election in the State from 1998. We will maintain the trend if Yeddyurappa returns to the BJP. The prevailing Modi wave, people’s disappointment with Siddaramaiah government and a huge resentment against the UPA government at the Centre will immensely help us win at least 20 seats,” Ravi said.
BJP had polled 20 per cent of the votes in the Assembly election suffering a huge defeat as KJP snatched 10 per cent of its traditional votes and BSR Congress, another offshoot of BJP, chipped away with 2.69 per cent of votes.
With the BJP hoping to get BSR Congress chief Sreeramulu also on board, the mood is bullish ahead of the Lok Sabha election.
Congress had polled 37 per cent of votes and formed the government. The combined vote share of BJP, KJP and BSR Congress had touched the 32 per cent mark.
“The merger of the KJP and pro-Modi wave will enable the BJP to not only regain its traditional voters, but also attract the fence sitters. BJP’s vote share will go up further as a significant segment of voters who had voted for Congress in 2009 Lok Sabha election are disappointed with the UPA government’s failures and serial scams,” Ravi argued.
Senior KJP leader V Dhananjaya Kumar said, “KJP, which won six seats in the Assembly election had finished second in 37 Assembly segments in the State. The proposed merger will boost the fortunes of BJP in Shimoga, Belgaum, Bellary Koppal, Haveri and Dharwad. BJP can hope to win at least 15 seats if merger happens,” Kumar said.