When the BJP is amidst the mission of pulling veteran leaders from the opposition camps in Southern states, the recent events that are unfolding in Karnataka ahead of the crucial assembly polls come to daunt the saffron party. The Modi party has certainly not imagined that it would get pulled into the pool of fire as the party's state unit has caught into the wave of crisis, chaos, and protests from the functionaries. 

These events have thrown light on growing disgruntlement within the party and have come at a high time when the opinion polls had predicted that the BJP would suffer a debacle in the assembly polls. The protests in Karnataka by the BJP functionaries against the BJP leadership were quick to draw national attention and were sharp enough to be a gamechanger. 

It all started with Central BJP leadership's announcement of the candidates for the assembly polls. The BJP government led by Basavaraj Bommai has already been facing several allegations that diminished its possibilities to retain the reign. Now, as a league of leaders, who expected a ticket to contest in the polls, were denied a seat, their supporters have plunged to protest against the BJP leadership and in some places of Karnataka, it went to the extent of burning the effigy of Bommai. 

The BJP's Central leadership has released two lists of candidates so far and in total, the party has announced candidates for 212 seats. Boasting the party's plan of introducing young people, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who is BJP's in charge of Karnataka polls, said that the party is attempting to usher in a new generation of leaders with fresh ideas. However, the ground report has suggested that the candidate announcement has disappointed several senior leaders. 

Though the party has retained several sitting MLAs and Ministers in its candidacy for the upcoming polls, about eight sitting MLAs were denied a ticket. Several key leaders like NR Ramesh, who is BJP's Bengaluru South president, Belagavi MLA Mahadevappa Yadawad, Belagavi North MLA Anil Benake, Udupi MLA Raghupathy Bhat, who played a vital role behind Hindutva's protests against wearing Hijab, were denied tickets this time. Disappointed by this, the supporters of these BJP leaders took to the streets and started protesting against the BJP's leadership. 

Fueling the agitation, supporters of NR Ramesh staged protests against senior BJP leaders R Ashok and BY Vijayendra. The reports say that one of the factors that had driven protests is that BJP's decision to award seats to several legislators who had joined the party in 2013 after quitting from Congress and JD(S). Moreover, even before the announcement of candidates was made, former minister KS Eshwarappa announced that he has decided to step down from electoral politics. Akin to the state of Eshwarappa, former Chief Minister of Karnataka Jagadish Shettar said that he had been asked by the party to step aside and make way for others. 

Likewise, the party has also asked several sitting MLAs to do a political sacrifice. While Eshwarappa had signaled his resignation from the party, Shettar hasn't given up and claimed that he would contest. On Wednesday - April 12, Shettar met BJP National President JP Nadda in Delhi and conveyed his wish to contest in the Karnataka assembly polls. Though Shettar has overtly expressed unhappiness and cited that he is very hurt over a setback for his political career, the leadership is yet to decide on this matter and has let Shettar wait with bated breath. 

After meeting Nadda, Shettar told reporters that he has spoken about his political experience, including his six wins in assembly polls, and that Nadda informed that the issue will be discussed with other senior leaders. In what has become a significant development, senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, Laxman Savadi had on Wednesday resigned from the party after he was denied a ticket to contest in the assembly polls. In a scathing remark after quitting the party, Savadi said he is a self-respecting politician and not someone who goes around with a 'begging bowl'. 

Reacting to Savadi's exit, veteran leader and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said, "We have given him (Savadi) everything. I don't know why he has taken such a decision. I don't know why he is unhappy." Savadi, who hails from the prominent Lingayat community, was said to be a loyalist of Yediyurappa and it has been reported that the latter had tried to reach out to Savadi. While it was speculated that Savadi would join Congress, Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar said, "He is not in touch with me."

However, Savadi's exit has opened a new window to the BJP dissenters to quit the party. While former BJP MLA Doddappagouda Patil Naribol and minister S Angara have threatened that they will quit the party, the reports say that BJP leader MP Kumaraswamy has resigned from the party. Kumaraswamy was among the six MLAs who were denied tickets in the second list of candidates and he is also convicted in corruption cases. 

Only 90 of the 118 sitting MLAs were fielded again in the first list and the second list includes four Scheduled Caste, one Scheduled Tribe and two women candidates. In the first list of 189 candidates, BJP announced that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai would contest from his traditional Shiggaon constituency while Yediyurappa's son BY Vijayendra will contest from Shikaripura. The first list has 52 fresh faces and while the BJP has announced 212 candidates so far, it is yet to announce the candidates for the rest of 12 seats. 

As the drama of chaos, crisis, and protests continues in Karnataka, BJP has been beleaguering in the state that's at stake for the party. The protests show that the exodus from the BJP would most likely increase and the party was also facing troubles over threats from the functionaries and one of them is from Haveri MLA Neharu Olekar. After the party denied him a ticket, Olekar came out publicly and said that he would expose the corruption charges against Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. 

Olekar said, "There are many instances of corruption under Bommai during his tenure as Chief Minister and even before that. There were many shortcomings. We will expose that in the coming days. We will press for an investigation." Olekar was recently sentenced to two years in prison for diverting government funds to his sons and denying his allegations, Chief Minister Bommai said, "Let him make these allegations with documents. Once it is investigated, the truth will come out." 

For BJP, the crisis in Karnataka is unprecedented and the party has been taking efforts to subdue the growing crisis ahead of the polls. Had the BJP got defeated in the polls, the party would lose its only ruling Southern state in India. As the dissents against the leadership are soaring, it would cause an adverse effect to the party in the polls. The 224- assembly seat in Karnataka will go for a single-phase poll on May 10 and the results would be declared on May 13.