BJP may rejig Karnataka Cabinet to contain rebellion

New Delhi: In a bid to avoid a Himachal Pradesh-like fate where the rebels were a major cause of its defeat, the Bharatiya Janata Party may be looking at rejigging the Karnataka Cabinet in an effort to stem rebellion in the state unit just months ahead of Assembly polls.

Sources stated that the two former ministers, K S Eswarappa and Ramesh Jarkhioli, who have refused to attend the ongoing Belgavi Assembly session may soon be accommodated in the chief minister Basavaraj Bommai council of ministers.

Both these leaders are considered winnable candidates for the party and can also have an effect on their respective regions. If they are not accommodated properly they may field rebel candidates, hurting the BJP’s prospects, sources said.  Apart from these two leaders, the party may also accommodate legislators from various other communities, castes and regions of the state to properly set in place “social engineering” numbers ahead of the polls, sources added.

With internal surveys predicting that the party is falling short of the magic figure by about 20 odd seats, the saffron front is treading carefully as it wants to make a comeback in its southern Indian bastion in the 2023 Assembly polls. The return to power in Karnataka will be crucial as the party plans to expand its footprint in the south in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Both these leaders were forced to resign after controversies dogged them causing major embarrassment to the ruling saffron unit in Karnataka.  

Sources stated that CM Bommai has repeatedly informed the senior leadership regarding the troubles being created by these senior leaders. “Bommai also met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the national capital last week and is understood to have been informed that a decision on the Cabinet expansion will be made soon,” sources stated.

Sources stated Eswarappa and Jarkiholi will be given ministerial berths after the winter session being held in Belgavi comes to an end.

Eswarappa, who was the rural development and Panchayati raj minister, was forced to step down after a contractor made allegations against him over corruption. However, now Eswarappa wants to be accommodated back to his old job.  

While Ramesh Jarkiholi, who was one of the turncoats from the Congress and served as the water resources minister tended his resignation from the then BS Yediyurappa-led BJP government after charges of sexual harassment.

BJP want to avoid a Himachal-like rebellion?

The BJP is trying desperately to avoid a repeat of the Himachal Pradesh-like rebellion by accommodating these two leaders in the cabinet and also adding more names. It is also expected to send out a message that the party will be accommodating ahead of the crucial Assembly polls in the important southern state.

The party believes that the rebel candidates in Himachal were the cause for its loss in at least 15-20 seats. If the party had been able to manage these rebels properly and would have been able to get them to withdraw there would have been a good chance that the Jairam Thakur government may have returned to the Himalayan state, sources said.

While the party had already removed BS Yediyurappa as Chief Minister to contain anti-incumbency against its government, rebels standing against official BJP candidates could spell doom for it, sources pointed out. Incidentally, the party had not replaced Thakur in Himachal which had also led to anti-incumbency playing against the saffron unit.  

Winning Karnataka is very important for the saffron party as the central leadership, headed by Amit Shah, is directly intervening in the Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute as it aims to stem trouble ahead of Assembly polls.

The party has also already decided to seek the services of Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa in strategy finalization and candidate selection as the BJP wants to avoid such mistakes in Karnataka.  

The BJP is also on the back foot with the politically significant Vokkaliga community demanding a piece of the reservation pie, with just months to go for polls.

The 224-member Karnataka Legislative Assembly is set to go to polls in early 2023. Karnataka was the first state to have elected a BJP government in South India and is considered to be immensely important for the saffron unit.

The BJP is planning a massive expansion in South India with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The party has set a target of winning 100 seats in Lok Sabha from the five southern states of the country.