BJP faces Karnataka test for 2029 roadmap

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, April 19: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Jagdish Shettar apparently had sniffed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s roadmap for 2029 Lok Sabha elections as he became amenable to an intricate family pull to steer closer to Congress campaign committee chairman MB Patil even before the saffron outfit released its first list.

The BJP has fielded close to 30 per cent new faces in the Karnataka Assembly elections with a clear strategy to energize the cadre by making them aspirational to aim to climb the political ladder. For the BJP, axing the aged, who are past 65 years of age and had been contesting elections for several terms, was part of the strategy to beat the anti-incumbency against the government in Karnataka.

“It’s not about Karnataka alone. This will be tried everywhere if the outcome in Karnataka is positive. Someone contesting elections for five-six terms leaves no scope for the hardworking aspiring workers. Once such politicians retire, they demand tickets for their family members. This chain has to break if the BJP remains a well-oiled election fighting machinery for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections,” said a senior BJP functionary.

The BJP has fielded almost one-fourth of the candidates in the Karnataka Assembly elections who are less than 50 years of age. “In constituencies such as Hubli-Dharwad, what could a BJP worker aspire for when he knows that one person had turned the seat into his fiefdom? Why such BJP workers work for the party? This is the challenge that the party has identified to deal firmly, and only rare exceptions will be entertained,” added the functionary.

Sources stated that the BJP bid to phase out long-term faces has the approval of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh. “The BJP is facing the risk of becoming another Congress where senior leaders carved out their respective fiefdoms to establish dynasties. If this is not dealt firmly, the BJP may have to face challenges even in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and five years later the party would be a lot of tired and jaded politicians with whom the people would have been bored,” said a Karnataka-based BJP leader.

If the BJP, sources said, is able to achieve the stated objectives in Karnataka, the model, which started from Gujarat, will be repeated in rest of the states and also the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and those with followings and being below 50 years of age may emerge as favourites in candidate selections.