Outlook – July 28, 2019

scoresheet—it got four out of 17 seats

in Telangana, but drew a blank in

Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and

Kerala. With a firm foothold in

Karnataka and Telangana, the party

is looking to expand in a big way in

the south. For that, it is taking cues

from the impressive victories in West

Bengal and Odisha, where it bagged

18 out of 42 and five of 21 seats,

respectively. Enough lessons have

been learnt from past follies and its

time to script a new south story, say

the BJP leaders in charge of the

southern region. The focus has now

been shifted to the assembly elec­

tions and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The south—Tamil Nadu, Andhra

Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala,

Karna taka and Pondicherry—

accounts for 130 Lok Sabha seats.

Speaking about expansion plans in

the region, Rajya Sabha MP G.V.L.

Narasi mha Rao of the BJP says the

party has set an ambitious target of

adding 20 per cent more members in

each state. A massive membership

drive has already been launched.

“We expect that the south will con­

tribute to the 2024 Lok Sabha res­

ults just the way Odisha and Bengal

did in 2019. We expect the two

Telugu states and Kerala to deliver a

large number of seats,” says Rao.

In keeping with its southern ambi­

tions, the BJP is also looking to shed

its image as a north Indian party.

Party leaders acknowledge that they

have to overcome some hurdles in

the region, mainly due to linguistic,

geographic, historic and religious

factors, for making the desired

perceptual change possible.

Admitting that drawing more people

from the south into the BJP demands

bridging the north­south gap, senior

leader Lalitha Kumaramangalam

says the party is looking at solutions

such as promoting competent south­

ern leaders at the Centre. “We need

to pay more attention to local

demands and the problems of the

states. We are mulling the interlink­

ing of rivers to benefit the Cauvery

delta farmers and its riverine states.

We will also address the neglect of

the major southern metropolises

such as Bangalore and Chennai,”

adds Kumaramangalam.

Political observers feel that as the

BJP’s narrative of Hindutva fails to

make any impact in the southern

states, it may experiment with caste­

based mobilisation instead. Analysts

trace the BJP’s rise in Karnataka to

the split in the Janata Dal in the late

1990s, which started the gradual

shifting of the electorally important

Lingayat community towards the

BJP led by former CM B.S.

29 july 2019 OutlOOk 13

deccan offensive

The BJP is gaining ground

Goa
BJP has 27 in
40-member assembly
as 10 of Congress’s
15 MLAs join party

karnaTaka

Rift in Congress-JD(S)

opens BJP’s chance at

government

kerala

BJP’s target is to double

its membership; lure

Congress, CPI(M) workers

TaMil nadU

BJP plans to strengthen

alliances in state

andhra Pradesh

BJP attracts leaders

from TDP, Congress.

Target: 2.5 million

new members.

TelanGana

BJP’s goal is 3.6 million

new members; TDP,

Congress and TRS

loyalists targeted

Map by saji c.s.