BENGALURU: The biggest takeaway for the BJP in the bypoll was its history-making win in Mandya district’s KR Pete assembly constituency. Barely a few months after bringing down a coalition government headed by a Vokkaliga chief minister of a Vokkaliga party, to replace him with a Lingayat chief minister, the BJP managed to clinch the Vokkaliga- dominant JDS bastion KR Pete.
The path to this victory was no cakewalk for the BJP. “Have you watched movies of Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu? It was like one of those fast-paced Telugu movies,” said a BJP leader, capturing the excitement of running an exuberant campaign in KR Pete.
With specific targets of the voter base, categorised budgeting, repeated corner meetings, an election party every alternate day in every village, and dedicated cadres who made multiple rounds of each village, the saffron party turned the tide in its favour in just 15 days. Cadres from Hassan, who had worked for MLA Preetham Gowda’s campaign in 2018, were deputed in 34 panchayats and one town municipal corporation to conjure up 23,000 rural voters and electors in six zilla panchayats. One BJP karyakarta from Hassan for every gram panchayat was deputed to stay put for 15 days.
“We approached women voters and held ‘harshina-kumkuma’ ceremonies in village temples,” said a BJP leader who strategised for the party in KR Pete. “Lunch and dinner parties were held in villages every alternate day but our expenditure was barely 25 per cent more than what JDS spent,” he said. Two leaders — Preetham and BY Vijayendra, Yediyurappa’s son and BJP Yuva Morcha general secretary — at the helm of campaigning, with a little help from DyCM Dr Ashwath Narayan, pushed the idea of a “leader from within Mandya”.
Corner meetings were held in every village with the focus on ‘Mandya Pride’ — a slogan with which the BJP villainized HD Deve Gowda’s family for putting itself ahead of community. Vijayendra’s demeanour as the CM’s son and son of KR Pete helped the BJP break into Vokkaliga strongholds. Apart from approaching the 93,000-plus Vokkaliga and 15,000 Lingayat voters, the BJP appealed to SC/ ST and backward classes voters who have been cosying up to the BJP in the past two elections. According to the party’s internal assessment, 80 per cent of women voters chose the saffron party. The BJP’s other target group was voters between the ages of 18 and 50.
The party claims to have achieved 50 per cent success here. Just about 25 per cent of voters above the age of 50, according to BJP’s assessment, voted in their favour. “We were successful in breaking the conventional practice of the man of the house directing the women and youngsters on how to vote,” a BJP leader said.
The absence of big leaders gave Preetham and Vijayendra a free hand. KR Pete gave Preetham the chance to retaliate to attacks from the JDS ever since his election from Hassan, and establish himself as the lone BJP leader to break into a Vokkaliga bastion. For Vijayendra, the victory comes as the strongest foundation pillar of his political career