Karnataka is one of the few states which the Congress has managed to hold on to. With the Assembly Elections coming up in 2018, the BJP is gearing up for an Uttar Pradesh-style win in the Congress bastion.
BJP National President, Amit Shah has enlisted a Gurgaon-based company – Billion Minds, to conduct a three-phase survey in Karnataka to gather the public mood in the run up to the elections.
According to BJP state President, BS Yeddyurappa, four teams with a total of 40 people will survey all 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka in three different phases.
Phase 1 is said to begin in July, and the team will gather the opinions of people across the state on what they expect from the government, how they feel about the current leaders, if they are happy with the current government and the changes they would like to witness.
The first phase of the survey will last for 45 days, after which, the ground report will be submitted to Amit Shah for review in mid-August.
In the second phase of the survey, ‘chai pe charcha’ stalls will be set up across villages and urban centres to gather the opinions of the youth in the state.
Phase 2 will roll out, upon Amit Shah’s arrival in Karnataka in August. From September 15 onwards, the final stage of the survey will begin and a list of potential candidates will be formed. The team will then gather the opinions of the people on these candidates. It will also make note of people who lobby for certain leaders to obtain tickets for the election.
“In December, Amit Shah will look into the results of all three surveys which will contain details about the political mood in the state and he will decide who will contest from which constituency,” Yeddyurappa told media persons.
Reacting to the BJP’s pre-poll strategy, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, while addressing the media in Bengaluru, said that the Congress party has already begun its pre-poll survey across the state.
“The BJP’s plan is similar to the survey we have already started. The survey we are conducting is to ascertain if people are happy with the leaders’ performance and what they expect from them. The survey work has been assigned to a private company,” Siddaramaiah told media persons.
Refuting Siddaramaiah’s claim, Yeddyurappa said that Amit Shah’s strategy of the three-phase survey had worked in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Assam, which is why the high command has decided to implement the same in Karnataka in order to sweep the 2018 elections.
“After the completion of phase 1 in August, we will be able to begin forming a plan for the campaign. However, it will be Amit Shah who is going to take the final decision on any strategy and all leaders will abide by his decision,” Yeddyurappa added.