Focus on Congress-ruled segments in Bengaluru: Pradhan

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is in charge of the BJP’s election effort in Karnataka, is said to have directed party leaders to come up with a strategy to win Congress-held constituencies in Bengaluru.

Pradhan took part in the BJP core committee meeting late on Thursday night. 

The diktat is part of the BJP’s target of winning more than 20 out of 28 segments in the city. Of the 28 segments in the city, BJP has 15, Congress 12 and JD(S) one.

The target of winning 20 seats in Bengaluru was fixed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In line with that, Pradhan is said to have told his party colleagues that concrete plans are required to wrest seats held by Congress.

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Another source in BJP interpreted Pradhan’s directive as a subtle nudge to party leaders to refrain from ‘adjustment politics’ with rival parties. “In 2008 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 17 seats in Bengaluru and definitely this record can be bettered by winning in more than 20 seats,” the source said.

The source added that Karnataka election co-incharge and union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya was armed with past election data and pointed out the BJP was in good stead to win over 20 seats easily.

“With page pramukhs, booth-level meetings have been successfully completed in the city. Now, it is up to leaders to encash this by working unitedly,” he said, according to sources. 

The source added that Union Home minister Amit Shah was to chair the meeting as he was preoccupied with the interaction with intellectuals which got delayed by more than an hour,” the source added.