BJP workers left in lurch as Congress woos their MLAs with little or no resistance in Karnataka

Karnataka is rife with rumors of growing discontent among BJP leaders with no visible sign of a strategy in the party to retain its people in the face of the Congress poaching local leaders from the saffron party and the JDS. Sources in the BJP told ET that second and third line leaders in particular feel "orphaned" due to the vacuum in the BJP hierarchy, in both legislature and state unit with indecision over the state leadership.

"The Congress may find it easier to lure away such leaders, as the BJP delayed local body elections when it was in office, denying party workers a shot at power," sources said. Right now, 31 zilla panchayat polls are pending in the state. Capital city Bengaluru's civic body polls have been delayed for three years.

The Congress has stepped in the BJP's chasms, attracting local leaders yearning for office with promises of tickets and reservation. The party has found an in with BJP leaders as it managed to get Lingayat leaders Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi to defect to its side before the assembly polls.


The party is also said to be pursuing a couple of JDS MLAs who it had targeted before the assembly polls itself, but its plans did not materialize. The regional party suffered its toughest defeat in two decades, crashing down to 19 seats in the May 10 assembly polls from 37 seats in 2018.

Sections of AICC are also focusing on a 'ghar wapsi' for the 17 MLAs from the Congress and the JDS who had defected to the BJP back in 2019 to topple the coalition regime. The "Bombay Boys" - so called because the saffron party had sequestered them in Mumbai during the defection - had resigned and contested the bypolls on a BJP ticket and won, in what later came to be known as Operation Lotus.

BJP workers believe the party's tallest Lingayat leader BS Yediyurappa can stem the oncoming exodus. "Out of 65 MLAs, about 35 to 37 are in the Yediyurappa camp. He may be able to influence them," party sources said.

People in the know say the Congress will welcome a large number of leaders from the Opposition into its fold by the end of November or the first week of December this year. Rahul Gandhi has set a target of 20 seats out of 28 seats in Karnataka to the state Congress leaders in the next year’s polls and this is said to have pushed top state leaders to strengthen the party and pull off a series of electoral wins in the runup to the general election.