Bengaluru : The Karnataka BJP leaders have blamed the mistakes in the selection of candidates and the lack of a strong campaign strategy for their party's defeat in the 2023 Assembly polls. At an introspection meeting held on Friday on the party's 2023 defeat, many BJP leaders said a large number of new candidates were selected which left a negative impact on the winning chances.
They also admitted that the party lost due to the absence of a plan to counter the election preparations of the opposition Congress. As a precaution, the BJP leaders decided to bring these issues to the notice of the high command and to avoid such mistakes during the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP, which came to power in 2019 through Operation Kamala, had to taste defeat this time.
At the review meeting, along with party MLAs, defeated candidates, state in-charge Arun Singh, state president Nalin Kumar Kateel, former CMs BS Yeddyurappa, Basavaraja Bommai, and other senior leaders took part.
More than 70 new candidates were allowed to contest this time. Raising this point, the BJP leaders said nobody supported newcomers actively and it had led to the loss of over 30 seats. Along with this, the election preparations of the opposition Congress were ignored and the focus was only on the Modi and Amit Shah rallies, which led to a setback for the BJP candidates in the constituencies, the leaders said.
On the other hand, senior leaders like former CM Jagadish Shettar and former Deputy CM Laxman Savadi left the party and it affected many constituencies. Their influence gave a blow to the BJP party in many places. Senior leader Kalakappa Bandi insisted in the meeting that bringing the two back to the party will facilitate better results in the Lok Sabha elections.
Some defeated candidates who were present in the meeting expressed their opinion that the decision to increase the reservation should have been made earlier. Also, they expressed the feeling that the BJP did not properly counter the 40% commission charge of Congress. Ministers and MLAs did not respond to BJP workers, and ministers like Sudhakar did not properly handle the district responsibility given to them.
The BJP leaders talked about winning the Lok Sabha elections. Congress used freebies and promises in the Assembly elections but the same would not work in the Lok Sabha polls. However, everybody should work hard for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's victory in the LS polls, they said. BS Yeddyurappa said that no one should be shocked by the defeat and the party should get ready for the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP candidates should win in the Taluk Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat elections and show their strength, he said.
The BJP leaders also said that someone should take responsibility for the victory of the newcomers and that experiments should not affect the party's winning prospects. Finally, the defeat in the 2023 election should be a lesson for the party and newcomers should be given a chance but caution should be exercised while giving it.
