Modi wave fetches BJP the majority seats

Bengaluru: The BJP had set a target of winning 150 seats in the Karnataka Assembly Elections and termed it “Mission 150”. It left no stone unturned in working towards this mission and though the 150 mark was not reached, the BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 104 out of the 222 seats. Most of this success can be attributed to the emotion and promise infused loud-mouthed campaigns of senior BJP leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP National President Amit Shah.

Party candidates feel that Modi’s campaigns in a total of 21 public gatherings served as the game changer for the party. Each campaign targeted the people and issues in 10-15 Assembly constituencies, which established a connection with the local voters and informed them of the schemes they might be subject to. Amit Shah’s strategy of micro-managing polling booths using “page pramukhs”, who would try to influence the voters displayed on a specific page of the voters’ list. Shakti Kendras, which refers to a cluster of booths, also helped in uniting and strengthening the party at the grassroots level. Shah also made sure that the State unit of the party remained united.

The strategists of the party also countered the attempts of the Congress to raise the Lingayat issue as a method of stealing the Lingayat vote base from the party. They said that the Congress was employing divisive politics in the matter and described the question of religious minority as a “Hindutva issue”. Such a calculated move ended up destroying the Congress strategy and the Lingayat decision backfired for the Congress candidates of North Karnataka. Similarly, every accusation or criticism from the opposition was met with an equally scathing attack in the voices of influential orators like Modi and Yogi.