The BJP’s dangerous daydream: why projecting Kumaraswamy CM would be political suicide

 Politics in Karnataka is never short of surprises, but the latest rumour from New Delhi’s corridors borders on the absurd — that the BJP might project H D Kumaraswamy, the JD(S) leader and now Union Minister, as its next chief ministerial face. The elections are still two years away, yet this bizarre idea has already unsettled both parties and confused BJP’s own cadre.

If there is even a shred of truth to it, the plan reeks of desperation rather than strategy. The BJP in Karnataka is already struggling to recover from internal fractures, leadership vacuum, and declining public confidence. Instead of rebuilding its base, the central leadership seems to be toying with the fantasy of resurrecting a discredited politician whose reputation is mired in land grab and nepotism charges. Kumaraswamy represents everything the BJP once claimed to fight against — dynasty, corruption, and opportunism.

Worse still, such a move would send out a devastating message — that the BJP has no credible leaders of its own to project as the next chief minister. It paints a picture of a politically bankrupt party whose leadership bench has shrunk to the point where it must borrow faces from rival camps. It makes the BJP appear weak, confused, and lacking in confidence to head the next government, whether by democratic mandate or political manoeuvre.

For decades, the saffron party built its Karnataka base by opposing precisely the brand of politics Kumaraswamy represents. Aligning with the Gowda clan has already cost it dearly; the BJP gained nothing electorally and lost much of its ideological consistency. To go further and offer Kumaraswamy the chief minister’s chair would alienate core supporters, damage the morale of grassroots workers, and fracture the Lingayat–Brahmin vote base that sustains the party.

Why, then, has this rumour emerged? Some see it as a diversionary tactic — a ploy by Amit Shah’s strategists to unsettle the Congress or to test the waters within both alliances. Others view it as an early sign of strategic drift at the top.

Whatever the case, Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah must realise that turning to Kumaraswamy as a political saviour would be a fatal mistake. It would erase two decades of party’s growth and make the BJP appear as a party in moral and ideological retreat. If the BJP persists with this dangerous daydream, Karnataka could well become the graveyard of its southern ambitions.