BJP gets going for Lok Sabha polls; appoints R. Ashoka as #Karnataka Leader of Opposition

R Ashoka was elected/appointed as Karnataka Leader of Opposition after the BJP legislature meeting on Friday, Nov 17. 

 Due to peculiar political resaons and internal bickering, the saffron party had delayed the naming of the Leader of Opposition in Karnataka months after the polls that convincingly voted out the Lotus party. 

Ashoka: 

He is a Vokkaliga strongman. In May 2023 assembly polls to the 224-member assembly while the BJP strength dropped to 66 and the JD(S) 19; the Congress recorded a convincing victory winning  as many as 135 seats. The names of Sunil Kumar, Ashwath Narayan and Araga Jnanendra were doing the rounds as contenders for the post. 

It was understood that Lingayat aspirants will have to make way for someone from other castes, as B Y Vijayendra was already appointed the state BJP president. 

Former minister V Sunil Kumar was among the front runners being from the backward castes. Kota Srinivasa Poojary now may be picked as the LoP in the Legislative Council, as both Poojary and Sunil Kumar belong to the Billava community and are from the coastal belt.

Ashoka is a former Deputy Chief Minister.  The previous session of the Karnataka Assembly in July was held without the Leader of the Opposition. The decision of the BJP leadership also comes days ahead of the winter session of the state legislature beginning December 4.  

New BJP state chief in Karnataka is B Y Vijayendra. He is the son of  former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.  

All eyes will be on Karnataka Lok Sabha polls next year as in 2019, the BJP had won as many as 25 seats - total 9 seats more than 2014 while Congress tally had dropped from 9 to mere one.  Karnataka has 28 parliamentary seats in total. 

Ashoka is a seven-time BJP MLA and has the experience of working with five chief ministers as a cabinet member. 

He held various key portfolios such as home, revenue, municipal administration, transport and health and family welfare.

The Vokkaliga community is a dominant community in Karnataka, especially spread in the southern parts of Karnataka such as Bengaluru, Chikkaballapura, Mysuru, Mandya, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagara, Kolar, Tumakuru and Chikkamagaluru.

Interestingly, JD(S) leaders H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy are also Vokkaligas. 

Earlier, BJP's politics in Karnataka was rather Lingayat caste centric. Of course, state BJP chief Vijayendra is a Lingayat. 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP National General Secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam, BJP state unit President B Y Vijayendra, and former chief ministers B S Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai were among those present at the legislature party meeting.