There is heightened curiosity in political circles as Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai left for Delhi on Friday to hold consultations with the party high command on issues related to Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council elections to be held next month.
While elections to seven Council seats are being held on June 3, the biennial elections to four seats of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka are scheduled for June 10.
The BJP circles are particularly curious about whether B.Y. Vijayendra, party State vice-president and son of veteran leader B.S. Yediyurappa, will get the ticket to contest the Legislative Council elections. Though the party State core committee has already recommended his name to the high command, there is still curiosity around the final selection as the central leadership has turned down recommendations on earlier occasions.
A section of the party leaders believe that Mr. Vijayendra’s name has been recommended only after there were signals in this regard from the high command. But they admit that it would be the party central leadership that still takes the final call.
If Mr. Vijayendra’s name is cleared, it would mark the emergence of new leadership in the party, observed a senior leader in the BJP State unit and he is bound to make it into the Ministry. He is expected to play a crucial role in the preparations for the 2023 Assembly polls along with his father.
Also, any decision to be taken in this regard would be an indication of the BJP’s strategy for its political rivals on the forthcoming Assembly elections with respect to retaining its support base of Lingayats.
Role of JD(S)
Apart from the Council elections, the Chief Minister would be consulted on the Rajya Sabha elections. Of the four Rajya Sabha seats for which elections are being held, the BJP would win two seats comfortably, while it is in a position to compete for the third seat also going by it’s numerical strength in the Assembly.
The party central leadership is said to be having “an open mind” with respect to roping in the JD(S) for its strategies for the third seat. “Either we may contest the third seat with the support of the JD(S) or we may even support their candidate. But clarity in this regard would emerge only after discussion in this regard with the central leadership,” a senior BJP leader said.
But the issue of ministerial expansion does not appear to be on the agenda for now at least as the focus of the party is on the elections to the Council, Rajya Sabha, and the impending BBMP council.
