BENGALURU: Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, challenged by opponents in the past few weeks, plans to turn the tables on them by using people power. He will tour the state, even though the Zilla Panchayat polls -- earlier scheduled for May -- are due by the year-end, depending on the Covid scenario.
Yediyurappa’s political secretary M P Renukacharya said he will tour all 31 districts of the state, and has already started with Tumakuru. His aim is to visit all the important taluks first, to strengthen the party and also to ensure that the grievances of the people are redressed.
His supporters said this would be his strategy to overcome the challenges thrown at him by his own party leaders, and simultaneously prepare for the 2023 polls, firmly at the helm. Many MLAs had openly complained that development funds for essential works for their constituencies had been cut, and the CM is expected to redress these issues while on the tour. With the Covid second wave exposing the state’s health sector shortcomings, Yediyurappa is also looking to address the issue.
Sources told TNIE that the CM’s tour of all the important areas -- Kalyana Karnataka, Bombay Karnataka, Central Karnataka, Coastal Karnataka and Old Mysuru -- will be spread over many months. Renukacharya said that each one of the MLAs will have to participate in the tour, and any form of “sulking” and refusal to participate can be taken up by the party.
Yediyurappa’s supporters are happy that the tour will put him on the front foot, and his opponents on the backfoot. One source close to Yediyurappa said he is used to going to the people, which he was not able to do due to Covid, but now, with the numbers declining, he may like to do something he does best -- harness people’s goodwill.