BENGALURU: Ahead of Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry in April, at least 200 party workers from the Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party will be shifting base to these states for about a month, to draw up strategies, campaign and carry out other poll-related work. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and his cabinet ministers will be part of the high-profile team which will hop across
the states on day-long campaigns.
Since Karnataka is the first state in South India where the BJP won power, a number of leaders and cadre who worked here will also take part. BJP National General Secretary C T Ravi, who is in-charge of Tamil Nadu, is already busy campaigning in the neighbouring state.With the Assembly session due to start in Karnataka, Ravi was in Bengaluru on Monday. He told The New Indian Express that he will not attend the session unless there is a whip. Instead, he will be in Tamil Nadu, a state where the BJP hopes to make inroads.
“Teams and netas from Karnataka will be visiting Tamil Nadu for poll-related work. Once we finalise the constituencies, we will prepare a schedule for these leaders to visit,’’ he said, hinting that Yediyurappa will probably campaign for just one day. “These leaders will be focusing on border towns like Hosur, Ooty and other places,’’ Ravi said. However, the dates are not yet decided.Senior BJP leader and Member of Legislative Council N Ravikumar said party workers and leaders will stay in the poll-bound states and Union Territory till a couple of days before the election. “They will fan out across the election-bound states and work with local BJP leaders. The services of MLAs and ministers who are well-versed in the local language will be used. BJP is in power in Karnataka and will win the other states too,’’ Ravikumar added.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, Deputy Chief MinisterC N Ashwath Narayan and Karkala MLA Sunil Kumar are in-charge of Kerala, while Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka Rajeev Chandrashekar has been deputed to Puducherry. BJP Youth Morcha National President Tejasvi Surya will also be travelling across these states.
Meanwhile, BJP state unit sources said that once the candidates are finalised, a time-table will be framed for Karnataka BJP MLAs, MLCs and MPs, State and Union ministers. “The Karnataka legislature session will begin this week and is expected to go on for a month. We cannot send all MLAs or MLCs at a time,
they will go based on their availability and other factors,” sources said.