BENGALURU: After campaigning for the party candidates in different parts of the country, a contingent of BJP leaders from Karnataka has landed in the Andaman Islands to get some rest before counting of votes on May 23. With exit polls suggesting BJP returning to power by winning over 300 seats, celebrations in the BJP camp seem to have started in advance.
Sources said the BJP team that is in Andaman on a ‘rest-cum-discussion’ visit, termed as ‘Chintan Shivir’, led by National General Secretary BL Santosh. It consists of around 45 leaders, mostly state and district unit office-bearers who had worked as full-time ‘pracharaks’ for over 60 days.
Immediately after the announcement of LS polls, they were sent to different states, including West Bengal, to campaign for the party candidates. Most of them returned only after the last phase of polling on Sunday. “Since they had worked continuously for over 60 days without a break, they are now spending some quiet time,” sources said.
Although it is meant to be a visit to get some rest after a hectic schedule, the BJP leaders are likely to discuss their experiences, party’s strategies and how they implemented them on the ground. However, none of the top leaders from the state — apart from Santosh — are part of the team in Andamans.
Sources in the party, however, ruled out any discussions on issues such as appointment of new president to the state unit after BS Yeddyurappa’s tenure ends or the party’s strategy for the state after LS poll results are announced. “The party president takes a decision on the appointment of new president, and such issues will not be discussed at the state level,” sources said.
Many senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had stated that a big change will take place in the state politics after May 23 and state leaders have been talking about the Congress-JDS government’s survival looking bleak beyond that date.
BJP state general secretary and MLC N Ravi Kumar confirmed that the BJP leaders, who have worked as full-time pracharaks, have gone to Andamans and they will be back on May 22.
BJP alone may win 300 seats: Tejasvi Surya
With results two more days away, BJP’s South Bangalore candidate Tejasvi Surya said it shouldn’t come as a surprise if the BJP singlehandedly wins 300 seats. “Our party president Amit Shah and PM Modi have been saying that we are going to increase not just our number of seats, but also the vote share of both BJP and NDA. We will definitely cross 272 on our own and it won’t be a surprise if the BJP singlehandedly wins 300 seats and the NDA will get close to 350-360 seats,” he said.
He personally expects to win with a huge margin, while refusing to put a number to it, in his constituency where the Congress has fielded Rajya Sabha MP BK Hariprasad. Acknowledging that exit polls have to be taken with a pinch of salt, the 28-year-old debutant insists that the ‘Modi wave’ was evident in Karnataka during the campaign and the projections are perhaps the results of the same wave.
Given the manner in which Tejasvi’s candidature came to be, leaders of the state BJP believe that a national role has been cut out for the 28-year-old who has been creating a buzz throughout the election season. “He is likely to be accommodated as an office-bearer or spokesperson, if not made a member of parliamentary standing panels,” said a state BJP general secretary.