BENGALURU: Even as suspense over ministry expansion continues, BJP National General Secretary BL Santhosh held a meeting with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa at his residence in Bengaluru on Monday.
According to sources, Santhosh visited Yediyurappa post lunch and interacted for more than half-an-hour with the CM. “No one else was allowed inside,’’ sources in the Chief Minister’s Office said. They are likely to have discussed cabinet expansion, inclusion of new members and dropping a few ministers, besides the party bypoll strategy and bills to be passed during the session, sources said.
The CM, who recently met party National President JP Nadda in New Delhi, is waiting for the high command’s approval to go ahead with expansion. The number of legislators is increasing and there is intense lobbying by MLAs for seven vacant berths in the cabinet.Earlier in the day, Santhosh took part in a party leaders’ meeting on the upcoming Gram Panchayat elections. The Karnataka State Election Commission is likely to announce the election date by November-end.
BJP sources said it is surprising that Santhosh participated in the meeting. “In our party, though leaders from Karnataka are given higher responsibilities at the national level, they are instructed not to involve themselves in their home state affairs. However, Santhosh’s participation seems to be a clear message to Yediyurappa that he has the upper hand in the state, even in panchayat elections,’’ said sources.
After the meeting, BJP State President Nalin Kumar Kateel told reporters that the party is targeting to win 80 per cent seats. “We are adopting the Pancharatna and Panchasootra strategies. We will form a team of five (Pancharatna) — an SC/ST community member, woman, youth and other caste member — at each booth level,” Kateel said.
The Pancharatna will work with ‘page pramukhs’, who will reach out to every voter of the panchayat. Under Panchasootra, BJP has set war rooms with call centres in every mandal and districts. Pancharatna teams will work under them. They will also organise Kutumba Milana, which are local get-togethers. “Our motto is, the worker should become leader. We have taken panchayat elections seriously,” he added.
The party has formed six teams, each headed by ministers KS Eshwarappa, R Ashoka, Laxman Savadi, Jagadish Shettar and Govind Karjol, who will hold Gram Swarajya conventions at various places across the State. Each team has been given charge of five districts and will travel with local MPs, MLAs and ministers for five days, starting November 27.