Karnataka is the only southern state where the BJP is in office. Assembly election will likely be held in the state in May 2023. Power equations had changed dramatically since the 2018 assembly election. The president of the BJP’s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Tejasvi Surya, who is also the party MP from Bangalore South, said the BJP will retain office because the people realise the benefits of a double engine government. In an interview to Kumar Shakti Shekhar, he also said Mallikarjun Kharge as the new Congress president will not have any impact on the forthcoming election because the people know that “the real power lies with the Nehru-Gandhi family”. Excerpts:
You come from Karnataka which goes to polls in the first half of 2023. In the last election which threw a hung assembly, the BJP emerged as the single largest party having won 104 out of 224 seats. It fell short of an absolute majority by nine seats. The Congress and JD(S) forged a post-poll alliance and formed a coalition government which fell in July 2019 after several of their MLAs resigned. The BJP government led by BS Yediyurappa was installed as a result of the so-called ‘Operation Lotus’ which was later replicated in Madhya Pradesh in March 2020. What are the BJP’s chances of retaining office in your state in the upcoming assembly election?
