BJP rattled as Congress relies on old pension scheme in Karnataka polls

New Delhi: With Congress likely to make the Old Pension Scheme an electoral plank in Karnataka Assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party is fearing a repeat of the Himachal Pradesh debacle in its southern citadel.

Sources stated that after its recent win in the Himalayan state, the Congress may soon be announcing a similar arrangement to be approved if it comes to power in Karnataka. 

The Congress Karnataka chief D K Shivakumar had recently made an assurance to protesting government employees in Bengaluru on the issue of OPS, clearly indicating that the grand old party was actively considering it as a possible game changer ahead of assembly polls. 

The chairman of the Congress campaign committee in Karnataka, M B Patil, has also said that the party will implement the OPS if voted to power.

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This assurance by the Karnataka Congress hasn’t gone unnoticed in the saffron party and the senior leadership is trying to formulate a strategy to counter it, sources said. 

The BJP leadership is closely scrutinising the issue in the southern state as it wants to avoid a repeat of Himachal-like defeat and avoid angering the influential vote bank led by government employees. 

Government employees and pensioners are a significant and powerful chunk of the vote bank in Karnataka and have been on a dharna over the past several months for the implementation of OPS, which ceased on March 31, 2004.

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With internal surveys predicting a shortfall of about 20 odd seats, the BJP is desperate to retain power in its southern bastion. 

Sources stated that the BJP may adopt a soft approach to the issue of OPS implementation.  

The saffron unit may stop short of announcing a reconsideration of the National Pension System and may announce a committee to study its feasibility which may submit its report after the Assembly poll results are in, sources said.  

Over the past few weeks, the issue of reintroduction of the Old Pension Scheme for government employees is starting to turn into a major headache for the BJP as two of its allies, Jannayak Janta Party and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, have already demanded a rethink over the issue. 

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Both Maharashtra Chief Minister and Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala have recently expressed reservations about the National Pension Scheme for government employees. 

The BJP allies feel that the OPS is turning out to be an issue related to the masses and could damage its vote share if it isn’t addressed swiftly.

The move by the allies of the BJP seems to be prompted by the recent loss of the saffron unit in Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls. 

The restoration of the OPS was one of the key promises extended by the Congress party during recent and widely hailed as an issue that has helped the grand old party. 

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The Congress governments in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan also ordered the restoration of OPS for their respective government employees.

Karnataka was the first state to elect a BJP government in South India and the 224-member state Legislative Assembly is set to go to polls in the next few weeks. 

As the BJP plans a massive expansion in South India with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, winning in Karnataka is on the priority list for its top leadership. The party has set a target of winning 100 seats in Lok Sabha from the five southern states of the country.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to seek a third term in 2024, the importance of Karnataka in the BJP's political numbers game has increased immensely.  Karnataka elects 28 MPs to the lower house of the Parliament. Of these, the BJP had secured 25 seats with one seat secured by an NDA ally in the 2019 general elections and the saffron unit hopes to retain Karnataka's strength of seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.