After the party’s 0-3 defeat in the Assembly elections, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has asked the BJP to vigorously espouse a “youth-centric agenda in its future campaigns” and not lose sight of “alliance politics in the country”.

Owing to internecine factional feuds, the BJP failed to sew up an alliance in Haryana that cost it dearly in the state. After it finished a poor fourth, the BJP claimed that “its decision to go it alone in Haryana was correct, keeping in view its future strategy”.

But Yeddyurappa, sending the party brass a clear message, told The Indian Express today: “Alliance politics is going to stay given the political situation in the country today, so the party must not lose sight of that.” The Yeddyurappa government commands a majority in Karnataka.

With the entire BJP brass having gone into a shell after the defeat in the Assembly elections, its chief ministers today openly defied BJP president Rajnath Singh’s “gag order” and spoke on the need for a “new roadmap to resuscitate the party”.

While most CMs stressed on the need for a “youth-centric agenda” and said that the “open slugfest at the top is affecting its prospects in states”, there were clear differences over the role and extent of “agreeable RSS intervention” in party affairs — indicative of a larger ideological confusion in the party.

“Our future programmes must be oriented towards the youth. Their demands, especially on education and other aspirations, must find prominent mention in our election manifestos in the future. We must also encourage greater number of youth leaders in the party,” Yeddyurappa said.

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