Date:16/09/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/09/16/stories/2004091604310300.htm

Karnataka - Bidar

BJP to cash in on Veerappa's image

By Our Staff Correspondent

BIDAR, SEPT. 15. The unexpected public response to the "Tiranga Yatra" has proved favourable to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the secretary of the party's national unit and Karnataka in-charge, Ved Prakash Goel, said on Tuesday.

"We did not have many issues against the Congress till now. They handed us the `Tiranga Yatra' and the Veer Savarkar controversy on a platter. Congress leaders did not know that these issues could be advantageous to us," Mr. Goel said.

He was speaking to presspersons here after a meeting with party workers regarding the byelection from the Bidar (reserved) Lok Sabha seat.

Popularity

He said the party would prepare a strategy that would cash in on the popularity Ramachandra Veerappa had gained as a person as well as a party leader.

As for the sympathy factor that would benefit the party if a member of his family were nominated, he said that a part of the sympathy "would naturally come to the party as well."

Mr. Goel hinted that the party would wait till the Congress and other parties announced their candidates for the byelection, before announcing its candidate.

According to him, the concerns of the party in the district included issues such as the decrease in the party's tally of seats in the Assembly polls from six to three and the drop in Mr. Veerapa's lead from over a lakh votes to just below 23,000.

Mr. Goel also felt that the challenges before the party were different from those of a general election.

The State unit secretaries M.H. Shreedhar and Raghunath Malkapure; the district unit president, Prakash Khandre; the vice-president, Narayan Rao Mannalli; the district general secretaries Shivaraj Gandage and Babu Wali; and others were present.