BJP hopes for comeback due to Cong-JD(S) contradictions

New Delhi: Notwithstanding the developments in Karnataka where BJP chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa resigned within 55 hours of taking the oath after his party failed to manage the required number, the party is hopeful that it can make a comeback in the southern state due to the “inherent contradictions” in the Congress-JD(S) alliance in the state. Karnataka electorate gave a fractured mandate, with the BJP emerging as the single largest party with 104 MLAs, but falling short of a majority. The Congress got 78 seats and stitched a post-poll alliance with 37-member JD(S) and together they have 117 MLAs in the 224-member House with an effective strength of 221.

Despite losing the power in Karnataka, the saffron party poll managers are of the view that the party might have lost the battle, but it will win the 2019 war. The BJP feels that the JD(S)-Congress alliance is bound to be “unsuccessful” at the ground level because of the “competing interests” of their support groups.

BJP president Amit Shah had on Saturday asserted that the JD(S)-Congress government is an “unholy” alliance and was unlikely to last long.

“We may have lost the battle, but we will win the war,” said a senior BJP leader referring to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP is of the view that the Karnataka mandate was in favour of it and had rejected both the JD(S) and the Congress.

Feedback with the party suggests that Mr Yeddyurappa position among the electorally significant Lingayat community has only strengthened after he resigned from the top post.

Mr Yeddyurappa’s resignation also gave the party a high moral ground by negating the Oppositions’ allegation of horse-trading by the BJP to stay in power. Though its hopes of forming a government in Karnataka have been swatted down, the BJP believes an amalgamation of a some factors will help it engineer a comeback in the state.

A BJP leader said the JD(S) and the Congress are the main political rivals of each other, and their alliance is bound to be “unsuccessful” at the ground level because of the “competing interests” of their support groups. Most of the JD(S) candidates faced Congress nominees as their main rivals in the elections.

“Bonhomie between the top leaders of two parties may not translate into consolidation of their vote bases, especially when they have always worked against each other. There are inherent contradictions in the alliance,” another BJP leader said.

Sources said the BJP believes that the Lingayats and a few other groups will further consolidate behind the party in the wake of the JD(S) and the Congress, two “arch rivals”, joining hands to keep it out of power.