BENGALURU: With assembly polls just over a year away, political uncertainty and frequent talks on leadership change seem to be denting the image of the BJP in Karnataka.
Speculation of a change of guard started soon after the defeat in the byelection to Hangal assembly constituency in Haveri, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai’s home district. It intensified after the MLC polls for 25 seats in which BJP managed to win 11, just one short of securing a simple majority in the council. The unexpected results triggered talks within the party that the leadership is unhappy with Bommai’s electoral performance and is looking for a new face. Three names—Shobha Karandlaje, Murugesh Nirani, and Aravind Bellad — were floated as his successor.
Last July, when Bommai was chosen as successor to BS Yediyurappa, Union home minister Amit Shah had said the state BJP would go to polls in 2023 under the former’s leadership. But Yediyurappa, while ruling out leadership change, has been saying that the party would fight the assembly polls under a collective leadership.
Last month, senior BJP leader and RDPR minister KS Eshwarappa, who was sharing the dais with industries minister Nirani, had declared that latter would become CM soon. But Bommai himself, literally, let the cat out of the bag during a speech at his constituency Shiggaon, where he turned emotional and said: “no post is permanent”, raising more suspicion over his tenure as the CM. Nirani, who was sharing the dais with Bommai at the same event, added fuel to fire, saying: “Bommai will sooner if not later will become a Union minister like his father (late SR Bommai).”
Later, the speculation spread like wildfire with reports that Bommai, who is often spotted limping, would go abroad in January for a surgery of knee membrane tear and the change of guard would happen when he’s on sabbatical.
