BENGALURU: Letting power slip right through their fingers has definitely taken a toll on the cadres of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka. The dip in the morale of grassroots level workers has become so evident that the state’s leadership has made it its priority to boost new confidence in the workers ahead of two key elections- Urban Local body elections in August and the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Apart from workers in Coastal Karnataka, BJP’s volunteers, supporters as well as cadres remain disinterested in party work after BS Yeddyurappa chose to resign without taking a floor test within days of taking oath as CM.
“The first signs of workers unwilling to focus on party came when we held a meeting of district-level campaign committee members. Barely 50 per cent workers turned up for the meeting,” said a BJP Karnataka office-bearer who added that such meeting before the election would see at least 92-95 per cent attendance. Grassroots level workers, especially from districts of Bidar, Bengaluru urban and Ballary- the three Bs that impacted the BJP negatively in the assembly elections, are the most affected, the party has assessed.
The BJP’s state leadership, in three different groups, is undertaking a statewide tour starting Thursday. While the tour is aimed at campaigning for the Urban Local body polls, it is also being utilised as an opportunity to meet party workers at the grassroots level to motivate them to work for the Lok Sabha elections.
A team led by B S Yeddyurappa that includes Govind Karjol, N Ravikumar and Shobha Karandlaje will tour Bidar, Kalburgi, Yadgir, Raichur, Ballari, Koppal, Bengaluru city, Gadag, Haveri, Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Chikkodi, Bagalkot and Vijayapura till August 16. A second team led by Jagadish Shettar that comprises Arvind Limbavali and R Ashok will tour Shivamogga, Davangere, Chitradurga, Tumakuru, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Ramanagar, Bengaluru city, urban and rural while another team led by K S Eshwarappa and including C T Ravi, Laxman Savadi and A Narayana will tour Mandya, Chamarajnagara, Mysuru, Hassan, Kodagu, Dakshin Kannada, Udupi and Chikkamagalur.