Karnataka - Hassan   

Leadership crisis plagues BJP in Hassan district

Muralidhara Khajane

Most leaders have crossed over to other parties

HASSAN: Is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was in a formidable position in the district in 1999, losing its base? Can it take on the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) in the taluk and zilla panchayat elections?

"No," say grassroots-level party workers, who are reportedly disappointed with the defection of leaders from the BJP to other parties. Most of them had joined the BJP in the run up to the general election.

With the resignation of former MLA A. Dodde Gowda from the primary membership of the BJP, the district unit has lost all the four leaders who joined the party during the previous Assembly elections.

While B.V. Kari Gowda and Parama Devaraje Gowda, who contested the elections from the Hassan and Channarayapatna Assembly constituencies, have joined the Congress, Ibbadi Chandrashekar, who contested from Sakleshpur, has joined the Samajwadi party.

Though the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, B.S. Yediyurappa, claimed that the party will make efforts to strengthen its base in the district, senior BJP leaders observe that infighting in the State BJP unit has weakened the party. They note that factionalism, which affected the party's prospects in the gram panchayat elections, will also reflect in the taluk and zilla panchayat polls.

Except in a few parts of Arsikere represented by A.S. Basavaraju, the party has lost appeal in other parts of the district. District leaders of the party, who spoke to The Hindu on condition of anonymity, regretted that though the elections to the taluk and zilla panchayats are fast approaching, the party is not concentrating on strengthening the district unit. While the BJP Yuva Morcha is being neglected, the election of office bearers of the district unit has created discontentment among the workers, they added. A senior leader said the BJP has become weak after the demise of B.R. Krishna Murthy, who strengthened the party in the district.

The party was in a formidable position during the 1999 elections and B.B. Shivappa, K.H. Hanume Gowda, A. Manju and Puttaranganath got elected from the Sakleshpur, Hassan, Arkalgud and Belur constituencies, respectively. However, differences in the party forced them to join the Congress. The defection of many leaders from other parties to the BJP had disappointed district unit leaders. But they did not dare to question the decision of the State unit leaders.

Mistake repeated

The State unit of the BJP committed the same mistake during the 2004 election and admitted many leaders to its fold. However, all of them have since deserted the party. This has created a feeling among the party workers that the BJP encourages outsiders and not those working for the party.

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