By K.B. Ganapathy, Editor-in-Chief

The first day of the two-day State BJP Executive meet in city yesterday did not seem to go well and if the trend continues today also, the concluding day, the future 2018 does not seem to augur well for BJP. This prognosis is in contrast to BJPs rival No. 1 in the 2018 Assembly election Congress. The new National General Secretary of Congress K.C. Venugopal in-charge of Karnataka has his own new game plan to nullify the, generally perceived, negative factor of incumbency.

The good news this morning from the BJP camp is that K.S. Eshwarappa and B.S. Yeddyurappa have shaken hands in a spirit of compromise, conciliation and bonhomie at the behest of National General Secretary P. Muralidhar Rao, in-charge of State BJP, at a secret place late last night. However, this exercise seems to be like a mirage, says a BJP political observer.

Another significant policy change in BJP in the matter of distributing tickets to contest the 2018 election is said to be in nullifying the incumbency hurdle related to MLAs who are seeking ticket for another term to contest the election.

According to a source, BJP National President Amit Shah has a master-plan to overcome this hurdle of MLAs’ incumbency by giving ticket to about 110 new candidates, contesting for the first time. This approach has paid good dividend to BJP in UP. And, having had ‘unsuitable MLAs,’ in the past in Karnataka, this new policy may deliver BJP its mission for 2018 — win 150 seats.

In the meanwhile, the Delhi grapevine has it that the Women’s Reservation Bill is likely to come up in the June monsoon session of the Parliament and if it comes through then, well, our Malavika Avinash may be assured of BJP ticket for city’s K.R. Constituency!

By the way Muralidhar Rao made a faux pas yesterday when he said repeatedly that in 2018, “Congress will win more than 150 seats.” Though he later corrected it after Shobha Karandlaje brought it to his notice, some astrologically inclined feel these words uttered by mistake could as well turn prophetic.

I remember, Puttaparthi Satya Sai Baba addressing Deve Gowda as ‘Pradhana Mantri instead of Mukhya Mantri’ and those words becoming true when indeed H.D. Deve Gowda became the Prime Minister in 1996, though for 10 months.

By the way, we can say, Deve Gowda is a political visionary with new socially beneficial ideas. For example it was his Government at the Centre that first introduced the Women’s Reservation Bill in 1996. It was he who suggested special reservation for ‘left’ among the SC reservation; again it was he who came up with the idea of ‘inner reservation’ (ola meesalati) because he found that a major share in the reservation is swallowed by the majority group.

Now, let us watch-out for today’s outcome in the BJP meet.

By the way, will some one please tell us why posters with the photograph of B.L. Santhosh, RSS South India Co-ordinating Secretary, were removed yesterday from the premises of the BJP meet?