GETTING THE BJP BATTLE-READY IN KARNATAKA

It is perhaps a wise move of the BJP high command to bestow some importance on Yediyurappa, who still retains confidence of a wide spectrum of the population

- SUGATA SRINIVASARAJU

THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) across India is known as a splendid war machine, but one has to only visit poll-bound Karnataka to realise how underprepared the party's infantry, cavalry and artillery are in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the two electoral commanders of the party, have been to the state twice already, but have still not spelt out their strategy. It appears that the top two are still absorbing the chaos and confusion in the ranks and are calibrating their response.

Amit Shah, who was in Belagavi, on Saturday asked the local BJP leaders and workers to bury their differences by the time he came to the district next. That was a small acknowledgment of what he was seeing, hearing and processing in one district. He will have to perhaps repeat the statement across the state, in each district. In late December, when he visited Mandya district, he had sharply attacked the Janata Dal (Secular)'s top leadership. Although the attack was directed at Dal leaders, it was interpreted more as a message to his own senior party leaders who have apparently maintained a cozy and clandestine electoral arrangement with the Dal.

This is the first election in decades when BS Yediyurappa (BSY) will not be leading the BJP's poll charge. He has turned 80, and will not be contesting the polls, but he has not announced retirement yet. He has personal stakes in the ensuing battle. In December and early January, there were indications that BSY was sulking; he perhaps felt ignored, but has somewhat cheered up after Modi's Mangaluru visit on Friday, where he was reportedly treated well.