As central leadership overshadows state BJP, Congress stands to gain in Karnataka

The BJP was woken up from deep slumber only after National President Amit Shah's visit earlier in August.

While the Congress in Karnataka is becoming more assertive and independent by the day, the same can't be said of the BJP. The sudden spurt in activity by the BJP, according to the Congress, is only because of the party's central leadership and push by Amit Shah. The question now is whether the state BJP's dependence on its central leadership doing more harm than good.

Post Amit Shah's visit, the BJP in Karnataka is attempting to attack the government on various fronts. Protests are being held in every district on a wide range of issues. The Congress, however, is unperturbed, simply because they know that BJP's master puppeteers are from elsewhere and lack a connection with the local issues. "The state leadership in BJP is in shambles. They have no plan or vision. They are simply doing what the central leadership is asking them to do. There is a definite disconnect between those who sit in Delhi and the ground realities here. Till now they were busy with infighting and now after central leadership's intervention, they are escalating non-issues. We have nothing to lose," said KPCC Working President Dinesh Gundu Rao.

While leaders from the BJP do not disagree that matters are now directly in the hands of the party's central leadership, they maintain that there is no dependency as claimed by the Congress. "Once he has come down, where is the scope for anyone to have anything in their control? He will guide and we will follow," said a BJP leader who attended marathon meetings with Amit Shah when he was in Bengaluru. Other leaders acknowledge that there was a delay in the BJP reacting to issues and scams and that delay allowed the Congress to progress.

"Has the Congress forgotten who pushed for three-language policy? This farce that the party is putting up in Karnataka is only to convince the voters that they cater to local needs. JD(S) has always projected itself as a local party but the Congress in Karnataka is bent upon beating the JD(S). It wants to project itself as an uber local party. And the lesser said about Congress' central leadership the better," mocked BJP leader Suresh Kumar.

While the political volleys are expected, there is no denying that the state BJP has slacked and compelled the central leadership to take matters into their own hands while the Congress has chosen to keep its politics grounded, literally. With a natural disconnect between leaders from Delhi to voters in Karnataka, are the master puppeteers of state BJP causing more harm than good for the state unit?

OneIndia News