Barely two months away, the triangular contest for the Assembly polls in Karnataka moves to a higher pitch with BJP national president JP Nadda on Wednesday launching the first part of 'Vijay Sankalp Yatra' from Chamarajanagara , the southern part of the State, reaching out to the Scheduled tribe (ST) communities.
The 20 days yatre will culminate with a mega rally in the district headquarters town of Davangere on March 25 which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There would be four ‘yatre’ from different part of the poll-bound Karnataka.
Seeking to bring more tribal areas under the saffron influence, the BJP Government at the Centre had added 15 communities in Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh,Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh to the list of STs which is expected to broaden its voter turf across the country.
The Government had last year expanded the list of STs from 735 to 750 as part of the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Amendment Bill 2022.
The election of Droupadi Murmu as the first tribal President last July also added political sheen to the tribal approach of the BJP in the recent years.
The campaign ‘yatra’ from four different directions across the poll-bound State, in specially designed vehicles or "Rathas", will be launched by the party's Central leaders in the next few days.
While Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to flag off second yatre on March 2 from Nandagad in Belagavi district, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is slated to launch the third and fourth yatres that will start from Basavakalyana in Bidar district and Avathy in Devanahalli near Bengaluru, on March 3, in the morning and afternoon, respectively.
More than 50 State and national leaders will take part in this campaign, which will cover all 31 districts and 224 constituencies of the State, where elections are due by May.
The tours will cover 8,000 km, along which the party has planned over 80 rallies, 74 public meetings and about 150 road shows, they said, adding that it is expected to "touch" about four crore people.
The yatra that will begin from four different places will consist of 10-12 leaders in each of them.
This is the second phase of election ‘yatra’ by BJP in the State.
The first was launched last year by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.
Launching the first of four Yatras , Nadda was accompanied by Chief Minister Bommai, Yediyurappa, and party's state president Nalin Kumar Kateel among other leaders.
Addressing people from the Soliga tribal community, Nadda said, "With the Vijaya Sankalp Yatra beginning from an auspicious place and with the grace of god, I'm confident about BJP getting the blessings of the people in the upcoming Assembly polls."
He said, the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is marching ahead with strength and he has changed the political dimension of the country from "casteism, vote bank and dynasty politics", to taking everyone together with a moto 'sabka-saath-sabka-vikas-sabka-vishwas-sabka-prayas' (Together, for everyone's growth, with everyone's trust).
