Narendra Modi missing from Karnataka action

Withdraws from the Parliamentary Board meeting called by the party after every election

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi may have been described as the most popular leader by members of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but party leaders have noted that he limited his exposure in a state dogged by infighting and corruption.

The Gujarat chief minister was supposed to take part in the parliamentary board meeting, the highest decision making body of BJP, after the Karnataka elections results were announced, but on Wednesday morning Modi informed senior leaders of the BJP that he won’t be able attend the meeting. It has been a normal practice for the BJP leadership to meet and discuss election results each time when polling takes place.

While Modi had earlier confirmed that he would take part in the parliamentary board meeting once the Karnataka election results were announced, but he decided to stay away at the last minute.  

From a position where BJP had over 120 members in the legislative assembly in 2008, the party reached a position where it has just 40 seats. “We came to know in the morning that Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi will not attend the parliamentary board meeting,” said a senior leader of BJP.   

It is not the first time that Modi has missed attending the crucial parliamentary board meeting on the issue of Karnataka. While senior leaders of BJP were busy brainstorming at the party headquarter to decide which candidates should get tickets for Karnataka election, Modi decided to skip the meeting on two occasions. BJP leaders had earlier came out in Modi defence saying that since he has not been involved in Karnataka politics, there was no need for him to attend the meetings.

During campaigning before the polling, Modi had initially informed BJP leaders in Karnataka that he would be only available for one public meeting in Bengaluru on April 28, but the play had to be altered because of demand from the cadre. Modi held three public meetings but other development mascots of BJP -- Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar – stayed away from the entire campaign.