BJP General Secretary in charge of Karnataka Arun Singh said they are confident of convincing all those who are angry with not getting the tickets. During an interaction with the editors and reporters of The New Sunday Express, Singh said the rebellion will not have any impact on the party’s prospects as BJP is a cadre-based party. Excerpts.
What are your views on the rebellion within the party after the announcement of the candidates’ list?
In many constituencies, there are four to five aspirants. They have been working in their constituencies for the last many years. If they do not get a seat, their followers will also get upset. It was expected. In BJP, workers work for the ideology. They will get angry, they will calm down. We will convince them. So far, out of 212 names, 66 new faces have been announced. Even sitting MLAs’ tickets were changed. Our idea is to give a chance to new faces and also respect the elders.
Will the rebellion impact the party’s prospects?
No, it will not have any impact. Ours is a cadre-based party.
What were the criteria for choosing new faces?
There are many things, like how long one is in the party, the work one has done, dedication, qualifications, and how well one knows the constituency. Also, social engineering. Everything was considered.
There are allegations that the party has given tickets to some rowdy sheeters in some constituencies...
Nothing as such has come to my notice. Though there were high chances of winnability, some persons were denied tickets as they had some cases. For instance, Madal Virupakshappa had the winnability factor, but still, the party did not choose to give him a ticket.
What are the challenges before BJP now in Karnataka?
Every election, we take it as a challenge. Even though we know that we are winning, we still put more effort into it. We try to overcome our lacunae. We try to increase the victory margin. In Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid more stress on development works, which did not happen earlier. It could be Upper Bhadra, Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway, or Vande Bharat trains. We will tell people that Congress’ guarantee schemes do not work. Our Vidyanidhi scheme helps students. We will win with a thumping majority by winning more than 130 seats.
How do you see the present KMF-Amul controversy ahead of the Assembly polls?
What I see is that Congress does not have any issue to raise against BJP. That is why Congress is talking about it. Nandini is Karnataka’s pride and a big brand. We are with Nandini. If Amul comes, how does it make an impact on Nandini sales? They are just misleading people. Why don’t they challenge our schemes and the data including the PM Samman scheme, PM Awas scheme or even the Raitha Vidya Nidhi scheme of Karnataka? Congress is giving false promises everywhere and they are going to lose at the polls. The amount they have announced for their promises is much bigger than the state budget amount.
What are the factors that can help BJP win elections?
One is leadership. We have Narendra Modi’s leadership at the national level, besides leaders like JP Nadda, Amit Shah, and Smriti Irani. Next are BJP CMs like Yogi Adityanath. And here, we have the tallest leader BS Yediyurappa and CM Bommai. Where is such leadership in Congress? Rahul Gandhi comes here and he will reduce the votes for his own party. The second factor is our organisational structure from the booth level and dedicated party workers, which the Congress lacks. Then, we have the development model to tell the people. Congress has none of the above, but only huge infighting, be it in Rajasthan or Chhattisgarh. Even here, it is divided as DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah and Mallikarjun Kharge have their own groups.
But Congress state in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala is trying to patch them up and he is successful to some extent...
When the leadership is strong and popular, everything will be right. We have PM Modi as our tall leader and we get proper guidance and direction from him. But who is such an inspiring leader to guide the cadres in Congress? Who will listen to the words of Surjewala?
There are charges of corruption. What is the party’s plan to deal with them?
We go to the people and ask them if they received the benefits announced under various schemes. For a common man, what matters is whether the benefits announced by the government are reaching his bank account. When it is reaching him, where is corruption? When Congress was in power, people didn’t even have bank accounts. Hence, no matter how much Congress speaks about corruption, people know the reality.
What will be the impact of incidents of lynching on the party?
BJP does not tolerate such incidents, acts swiftly against the perpetrators and takes stringent action against them. Such incidents are rare in BJP-ruled states, whereas such incidents have become a daily affair in states ruled by Congress.
BJP seems hesitant to project Basavaraj Bommai as the CM candidate and depends heavily on PM Modi and Amit Shah. Who is the BJP’s CM candidate?
Bommai is the head of the campaigning committee and we are going to the people with whatever work he has done. He is leading the campaign in the state. PM Modi is our leader and we work under his leadership across the country as having double-engine governments has several benefits. Wherever there is a non-BJP government, such a government does not implement the Centre’s schemes effectively as they think that PM Modi will get the credit and it affects the development of such states.
The party has given tickets to several new faces. Will the same trend continue in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections?
That will be decided by the Central Election Committee of the party.
How important is this election for the 2024 Parliament polls?
We have no worries about the 2024 polls in any state. PM Modi’s popularity and charisma in every village of the country are such that he is seen as a messiah because of what he has delivered. Nobody can withstand his popularity and there is no doubt of him becoming the PM again. The way the world looks at India has changed and the last-man delivery that happened in his regime was never seen. It will be a one-sided election.
All opposition parties have met and are planning to come together for the 2024 polls. What do you foresee?
This is not the first time. Even before the 2019 elections, they had tried to form an alliance so many times. Whenever Mayawati wins, they say she should become the prime minister. Whenever Mamata Bannerjee wins, they say she should become the prime minister. The same is said when Nitish Yadav or Kejriwal wins. And, everything stops after some days. They keep meeting and discussing. I challenge them to come together and take us on.
Has Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification united the opposition?
Rahul Gandhi’s remark on the Modi surname hurt the feelings of OBCs. He should not have made that remark that all with the surname ‘Modi’ are thieves. Yet he could have sought the apologies of the person who had moved the court against him and it was as simple. If he thinks himself to be a big leader, he should have followed the law of the land and respected the Constitution of the country. But he went on an agitation mode. Who will convince him of all these things? Those who go to convince him (Rahul), he will stop meeting them.
Aam Aadmi Party is raising the issue of PM Modi’s qualification with the ‘degree dikhao’ campaign. What is your take?
Where is AAP? If there is one party that tells more lies it is AAP and it is a party of the bluff as well. The court has penalised the party for that. Its deputy chief minister and minister were all in jail under corruption charges. What is the credibility of that party?
What impact will AAP have in Karnataka this time in the Assembly polls?
It will not make any impact here as it happened in the case of the elections held in the northeastern states and Uttar Pradesh. In Gujarat since there was an aversion against Congress, the AAP got some space. That is too marginal.
But Congress raised the issue of a 40% commission against the Basavaraj Bommai government?
They do not have any other issue and hence are raising this fake issue. By using the CM’s picture, launching the ‘PayCM’ false propaganda is an insult to the state of Karnataka. If they had some evidence, they would have moved the court. What was the problem in it? People do not like this kind of ‘PayCM’ campaign to corner a simple, gentleman and common man CM Basavaraj Bommai. This will certainly backfire on Congress.
What about the policies of reservation the Bommai government has announced? Is that likely to have an impact on the polls?
See, for the first time in Karnataka BJP gave social justice besides doing social engineering. Though Congress had all the opportunities in the past it did not. The SC reservation was increased by 2% and ST’s by 4%. The 4% quota of Muslims was scrapped and 2% each was shared with Lingayats and Vokkaligas. All the religious mutts and their heads are praising us. The Panchamasali Lingayat religious head has also praised the BJP government. Now, what Congress is saying will reverse all this. What is their stand? Will they withdraw all the hike in the reservation we have done for the communities? How can people vote for you (Congress)?
Then, what was the need for Bommai to take the help of actor Sudeep for the campaign?
They (actors) are proud to work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is not the trend only in Karnataka. It is there elsewhere as a few days ago Andhra Pradesh’s former chief minister Kiran Kumar joined BJP.
Will Karnataka’s victory open the gate for BJP to make inroads into the other southern states?
Definitely. In November we have polls in Telangana.
How is the Hindutva issue likely to work out for BJP?
Our agenda is only development. If somebody (Congress) does minority appeasement politics we will certainly respond to them. Our motto is Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas.