No need to counter corruption narrative: Arun Singh

With less than a year left for the 2023 Assembly elections, BJP national general secretary Arun Singh, who manages the party’s affairs in Karnataka, sat with Bharath Joshi to dissect the goings-on. Excerpts:

What is the reality about Cabinet expansion or reshuffle? Lawmakers seem restless.

It’ll be a Cabinet expansion, but I can’t say when. On reshuffle, CM should take a call by consulting the party. And, things haven’t come to a standstill because of the delay in Cabinet expansion. The government is working on the ground. The only thing is, we need adequate publicity and go to the people. Between May 30 and June 14, we’ll have a massive campaign to mark eight years of the Modi government. Every household will be covered and beneficiary conventions will happen.

How does central leadership view the ‘40% commission’ allegation?

This is a false allegation. There are some Congress people in the contractors’ association. That’s why I say Congress has become a ‘conspiracy party’ by creating misleading allegations.

The perception is that the Bommai government is on the defensive over back-to-back allegations.

The government isn’t defensive. At the same time, the government won’t be very offensive either. The government has to be seen as pro-poor, pro-farmer and development-oriented. Bommai’s image is that of a mature, experienced common man. Compared with D K Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, Bommai is a far better human being and worker. The Congress is trying to build up narratives. How can D K Shivakumar, given his image, talk about corruption?

How will you counter this narrative with the Congress is getting aggressive?

There’s no need to counter. If we try to counter, it’ll keep increasing. We should have a bigger line. We need to show that we’ve worked for the poor and the farmers. Look at what we did in Uttar Pradesh: Law and order, bulldozer, free ration for 20 months and good governance. This worked. In Uttarakhand, there was the double-engine. We convinced people that growth will be manifold with the same party in power at the Centre and state. The same in Goa and Manipur also.

What happens to the development agenda in the midst of issues ranging from Hijab to loudspeakers?

Our recent victory in four states was solely with a development agenda. We never take up communal agenda. Congress tries to push such issues through some other party or organisation. Hijab, for example, was created by the SDPI and the Congress supported it. How was the BJP involved? We think beyond politics. Our schemes such as PM Awas Yojana, Nal Se Jal, Jan Dhan, PM-KISAN...has it happened anywhere that a Hindu was given benefits and a Muslim wasn’t? We’ve given benefits of all schemes to everyone. We don’t work to make any one religion happy. It was Manmohan Singh who said Muslims have the first right on the country’s resources. We never said Hindus have the first right.

You attack the Congress for parivarvaad, but former CM B S Yediyurappa’s son B Y Vijayendra gets recommended for an MLC ticket.

Parivarvaad is when a party is run or controlled by one family. Congress has the Gandhi family, RJD has Laloo family, SP has Mulayam Singh family...that’s why there’s no new leadership that flows. The BJP isn’t run by one family. If there’s a worker who is the son or daughter of a leader and is working in the organisation, then he or she can become MP or MLA. It’s not that Yediyurappa is running the party and then his son will take control. We will stop calling the Congress parivarvaadi the day it separates itself from the Gandhi family.

What will be the party’s focus in the election year?

We want to strengthen the organisation in areas where we are weak. There’s a challenge in the Old Mysuru region and that’s why we’ll have more people joining the party. We will have a massive gain in the Old Mysuru region. We will win 150 seats with Modi’s popularity, Centre’s work, Bommai’s work and the strength of the organisation.

When are organisational changes expected in the party?

There’s no need for change. Nalin Kumar Kateel will continue as state president and he’s doing a good job. Both Bommai and Kateel won’t be changed.