BENGALURU: With the legislative session getting over last week, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears to be not in a rush to appoint its Leader of Opposition anytime soon. Along with this, the appointment of its state unit president is also likely to get delayed.
Party MLAs and workers said due to the delays they are not able to chalk out a line of action and start preparations for the Lok Sabha elections which will be held in the next ten months. Even while state leaders are trying to put pressure on the party high command to appoint the Leader of Opposition and new state president, the central leaders are in no hurry.
A senior leader said the top brass is in no hurry. Earlier on three occasions, including a day before the session, Delhi leaders had given tentative dates on announcing the names. In fact, senior BJP leaders, including Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde, were in Bengaluru a few weeks back to get one-to-one feedback. But it’s close to a month now and nothing has been done so far.
A senior BJP leader said, “For party leaders, this is not a priority at this juncture. Even the assembly session has got over in Karnataka. They do not have more choices in electing the Leader of Opposition, but they are not in a hurry,” said the leader.
While a few leaders are hoping that the party high command will announce the names for the top posts by the end of July or earlier next month, many are skeptical as the central leaders did not announce the names in the last two-and-a-half months. Previously, there was buzz that the names will be announced in the last week of May, then it became June and later July 3. But still, this was not done.
A senior BJP MLA said they are all clueless on the appointments. “With just ten months left for the Lok Sabha polls, we are not able to fight against the ruling party inside and outside the House. We are not able to plan or chalk out a line of action. We need a person to take the party in one direction,” he said.