Journalist turned BJP strategist Swapan Dasgupta, who had an inside track on the BJP campaign in Karnataka, writes about how the BJP learnt from and implemented the findings of an opinion poll commissioned by Arun Jaitley:
“There were four major findings of the poll. First, it suggested that the BJP was likely to hover around the 90- to 100-seat level, mainly on the strength of its clear lead over the Congress in rural Karnataka. Second, contrary to conventional wisdom, the Congress was significantly ahead of the BJP in urban Karnataka, particularly Bangalore.
“Third, that H.D. Deve Gowda‘s hold over the Old Mysore regions was unaffected but the Janata Dal (S) had slipped in other parts of Karnataka. Finally, the poll indicated that S.M. Krishna in the Congress and B.S. Yediyurappa in the BJP had strong popular support for their chief ministerial ambitions.
“The BJP acted on the findings of the poll: it announced Yediyurappa as its chief ministerial candidate, it went out of its way to recruit and promote Vokkaliga leaders who could tap into crumbling JD(S) bases outside Old Mysore and firmed up its organisational machinery in urban Karnataka, particularly Bangalore.
The Congress, on the other hand….
Read the full article: Congress Bangalored
Tags: B.S. Yediyurappa, BJP, Churumuri, H.D. Deve Gowda, Karnataka Elections, S.M. Krishna, Swapan Dasgupta, The Telegraph
27 May 2008 at 1:02 am
Spot on, Swapan Dasgupta!
27 May 2008 at 12:02 pm
The difference between Cong and BJP:
1.Cong undersells itself (by not articulating its points clearly and effectively) despite fairly good achievements.
2.BJP oversells itself (by a shrill election campaign) despite nothing much to crow about.
Cong is damn poor in election management, and BJPis excellent in election management.
Cong has several good points to talk about, sadly it never does.
For example:
1. The nuclear deal is good for the country. The only countries which are happy that India’s nuclear deal is breaking down are Pakistan and China. And now add BJP to the list. BJP is not allowing India to become a global power. WHat this nuclear trade does is: it opens the gates for India to do gloabl business with france Russia and the rest of the developed world. But BJP is playing silly politics, at the cost of the nation. Sadly Congrss is not communicting this to the people.
2. The UPA govt. turned around the railways, by making it into a hugely profit making enterprise. A few strategically smart moves by Laloo has revolutionised Indian railways. FOr years, Railways was making losses, and now it has made record profits, improved number of trains and service too.
I can imagine if BJP had achieved the same fantastic performance , they would have gone to town, their every party person, their every speech would be full of self praises with the title :”HOW BJP CHANGED INDIAN RAILWAYS”. Sadly, Congress is not communicating what it has achieved.
3.Regarding Dynastic politics, it is the BJP which is the biggest supporter of dynasty. They too needed a Gandhi member intheir cabinet. ManekaGandhi was given a cabinet berth in NDA. Further, their own Rajashtan CM, Vasundhara Raje is the daughter of for central minister Vijayaraje Scindia.They made Rahul Mahajan a party member immediately after his fathers death.
BJP supports Udhav Thackeray, son of Bal thackeray
BJP supportes Kumarswamy, son of Deve Gowda
BJP supports Omar Abdullah, son of Farooq Abdulla
BJP supports Chandrababu naidu, son in law of NT Ram Rao
BJP supports Naveen Patnaik, son of Biju Patnaik
BJP supports Om Prakash Chautala, son of Devi Lall
the list is endless actually. BUt a point to note:How can there be second generation BJP leaders, whenthe first generation is still enjoying being in power? Give another 10 years and you will see a host of sons and daughters of BJP leaders waiting in queue. Already Jaswant Singhs son is active politically.
4. BJP believes in Muslim appeasement. While Sonia Gandhi made Pratiba Patel the president of India, BJP supported Abdul Kalam. Why? Couldn’t BJP get a single Hindu out of 90 million hindus for the top position in India, who matched Kalams honesty, statesmanship, diligence, etc.
The would be Karnataka Chief Minister has publicily stated that he would include a Muslim in his cabinet. Wonder why he never mentioned he would include a Vokkaliga or a jain or any other backwardclass.The answer is simple: Muslim votes.
The Congress ensured that the bombay blasts conspirators and the coimbatore blasts terrorists were punished. In both the cases, several muslims, who were genuine offenders have been sentenced to life imprisonment. The NDA did notthing to prosecute these terrorists, because they clearly wanted Muslim votes.
BJP keeps claiming Congress is soft on terror. But facts prove otherwise.
Indira Gandhi lost her life because she was hard on terror. She had the guts to go ahead with Operation Blustar and demolist terrorism in Punjab. THe terrorists killed her because they were opposed to her hard tactics
Rajiv Gandhi lost his life because he was hard on terror. he send indian army to lanka , to help lankan govt fight agains the terror outfit, LTTE.
LTTE,did not like rajiv’s hard stance on terror, and therefore killed him
Even Punjab cong CM was killed by terrorirts. So Congs HARD stance on terrorism has lead to deaths of important leaders in cong. While BJP, on the other had is so soft so soft on terrorism, that it gracefully accompanies terrorits in a plane to Kandhar to release hostages!
While,the list is endless actually. but that is enough food for thought i think for now
27 May 2008 at 10:30 pm
Thinking crap… stop thinking!
28 May 2008 at 7:03 am
Thinking Cap is sulking… :-)
Some of your arguments make sense but most are hinting towards “sour grapes phenomenon”.
Nuclear Deal – Its not the BJP that is pulling Congress out, its CPI/SP and other UPA allies. Although BJP could have bailed them out but supporting and showing some mature politics but they are playing gamesmanship. That is one thing we should not forgive BJP.
29 May 2008 at 9:45 am
thinking cap says:
BJP supports Omar Abdullah, son of Farooq Abdulla
BJP supports Chandrababu naidu, son in law of NT Ram Rao
BJP supports Naveen Patnaik, son of Biju Patnaik
Whats wrong with Omar, Naidu and Patnaik. Omar for the first time has shouted back saying, “where were you when Hindu priests were getting massacarred”. Here is a person who gives a damn for religion and speaks for the massacared.
Is that wrong?
29 May 2008 at 6:56 pm
@Thinking Cap
Dude, are you sure about the ‘thinking’ part?