Will BJP follow Tripura model in Karnataka?

Political circles are abuzz in Karnataka after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday replaced Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb with Rajya Sabha MP Manik Saha in the election-bound State. The change of guard apparently has triggered questions in Karnataka where rumours of a leadership change have been going on for a few months. 

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai recently held a discussion with Home Minister Amit Shah, known as the party’s chief tactician, in New Delhi. Shah reportedly asked Bommai to focus on the upcoming local body elections rather than mulling over cabinet rejig. 
However, Bommai met his predecessor B S Yediyurappa on Friday, setting off further speculations. Political observers feel that if BJP could change its chief minister in the poll-bound northeast State, it could bring about the s a m e chang e in Karnataka too. 

With the gambit of changing the chief minister just before elections working in its favour in Uttarakhand, the BJP’s top brass opted for a similar change in Tripura where polls are due early next year. 

The BJP has changed five chief ministers since 2019. In September last year, the BJP replaced Vijay Rupani with Bhupender Patel, as Gujarat chief minister. In Karnataka, it replaced B S Yediyurappa as CM with Basavaraj S Bommai. In Uttarakhand, it replaced two Thakur chief ministers with another Thakur leader. 

Assam also saw the BJP replacing its chief minister of five years Sarbananda Sonowal with Himanta Biswa Sarma following the assembly elections last year. Scuffl e at meet Reports suggested that the leadership change in Tripura did not go smoothly. As Deb proposed Saha’s name in the meeting, minister Ram Prasad Paul protested, which led to a scuffle amo n g MLAs.