The Opposition national party won 19 of the 28 parliamentary seats from the state in the 2009 general elections, a record for any Opposition party in the state in the Lok Sabha polls. It had won 18 seats in the previous elections held in 2004.
In the 2013 Assembly polls, the party was reduced to third place with just 40 seats, as compared to the 110 seats it had won in the 2008 polls. Adding to this, its vote share came down to 20 per cent from 39.9 per cent in 2008.
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As a result of Yeddyurappa leaving the BJP, the party votes were split and it lost as many as 40 seats in the May 2013 Assembly elections. "There is no doubt that Yeddyurappa is a mass leader and secured 10 per cent of the total polled votes in 2013 Assembly polls single-handedly. By reinducting him into the BJP we can prevent division of all anti-Congress votes and ensure victory for BJP candidates. Even if we can retain our seat tally of 2009 at 19 seats, we would be happy," a party office-bearer said.
Though Yeddyurappa resigned as the chief minister, on July 31, 2011, after he was accused of graft in the multi-crore mining scam by then Lokayukta Justice (Retd) N Santosh Hegde, he floated the Karanataka Janata Paksha as a regional party in December 2012, ostensibly to prevent the BJP from retaining power in the state, but facilitate the return of the Congress, which was in political wilderness since 2004 when it lost power under its former chief minister S M Krishna.
"I know, the party which I built has suffered due to my absence. I will not only rejoin my parental party but also tour the entire state to strengthen the hands of Narendra Modi to make him the prime minister," Yeddyurappa had told reporters last month.
As Yeddyurappa is considered to be a star campaigner and enjoys clout among the electorate, especially in the Lingayat community, which constitutes the largest vote bank (17 per cent) in the state in proportion to its population size, the BJP's state leaders think it would not only be able to prevent a vote split, but also garner as many seats even in a triangular contest, where another regional outfit - Janata Dal (Secular) or the JD (S) - will be vying for the same secular votes as the ruling Congress.
The only downside from the BJP's point of view is the price Yeddyurappa is seeking for his reentry - a fair deal for his associates including Shobha Karandlaje, his glamorous protege, a Rajya Sabha seat and a cabinet ministership for himself if the BJP comes to power at the centre.
But the BJP considers this a small price to pay in a scenario where every seat is going to count.
In many ways, the BJP will benefit from Yeddyurappa. As an immediate gain, the party's strength in the state Assembly will go up to 46 seats from 40, currently, and it will become the principal Opposition party in the house. Its floor leader in the house, Jagadish Shettar, will become the Opposition leader.
Secondly, the party's vote bank will go up and all Lingayat votes will be united in favour of the party. As JD (S) does not have a strong leader in the northern parts of the state, the BJP has better chances of winning majority seats in the north.
The BJP is no longer worried about the corruption charges against the former chief minister. "Many cases have been proved wrong. There are others where the trial is still going on. After all, which party does not have a leader without corruption charges?" questions a party functionary.
Even more so, after the ruling Congress inducted two new ministers - D K Shivakumar and Roshan Baig - who are facing corruption charges.
Ananth Kumar, who is also the party's national general secretary and considered a bitter rival of Yeddyurappa, said "With my dear friend rejoining the party, our strength has gone up 10 times."
The BJP's hopes are up because in Karnataka, voting trends in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections are different. For instance, in the September 2004 and May 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won fewer seats than it had in the May 2004 and 2013 Assembly polls from the state, though it went on to form the UPA-I and II governments at the Centre. Meanwhile, the BJP made inroads into the traditional bastions of the Congress and the JD (S) to emerge as the single largest party at the state level and form its own government after being in coalition with the JD (S) from February 2006 to October 2007.
Just as the BJP's national leaders and its cadres across the country depend on Modi only to regain power, its state leaders think Yeddyurappa alone has the "charisma" to make its candidates win in the state as he had done in the previous Assembly and parliamentary polls, especially in semi-urban and urban constituencies.