K’taka BJP chief says party focussing on LS polls; no plans for ‘Operation Lotus’

Bengaluru: Karnataka unit BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra on Friday said the saffron party in the state has been focussing on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections while underlining there were no plans for ‘Operation Lotus’ in the state.

Vijayendra said this while interacting with the media here when asked if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would be “targetting” Congress MLA Laxman Savadi as well — since former Karnataka chief minister Jagadish Shettar is back to the saffron camp after his less than a year’s stint with the grand old party.

Savadi, a former Karnataka deputy chief minister, switched to the Congress from the BJP last year before the 2023 Assembly polls.

Savadi, however, said on Thursday after Shettar’s “home-coming” that he was “very clear about not re-joining the BJP”.

Meanwhile, Vijayendra, while talking on party’s preparations for the upcoming general elections, said: “It would sound funny if I say that the BJP would win all 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. But there is a BJP wave in the state. We will welcome those who come to the party and agrees to the ideology of the BJP, and accepts Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership. There is no question of outsiders and insiders. The high command will finalise the candidates for the Parliamentary elections.”

Answering a question on row over Mandya seat as both JD-S and Independent sitting MP Sumalatha Ambareesh are keen on contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from there, Vijayendra said he had spoken to Sumalatha in this regard over phone and he will meet her soon.

“I will also speak to former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy in this regard and discuss the matter,” he added.

He further said that he has not spoken to mining baron-turned-politician Gali Janardhana Reddy.