Has BJP cracked formula to address the issue of Old Pension Scheme?

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party is seemingly trying to find a middle ground on the issue of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) to reach out to the angered government employees ahead of the crucial Karnataka Assembly polls.

This comes after last week's order by the Centre giving an option for the selection of OPS for government employees appointed before 22 December 2003, the day the National Pension System was notified. The relaxation comes as the BJP seems to be fearful of Congress's plan to promise to revert to OPS if it comes back to power.

In an effort to counter the Congress, the BJP is contemplating the formation of a committee to study the feasibility of revocation of the National Pension System and re-implementation of OPS, sources said. This comes as internal surveys of the BJP have revealed that OPS may prove to be an issue that can damage the numbers game of the saffron party, pulling it down from the halfway mark.

Sources stated that though the government has termed it a one-time relaxation, the wider possibility of a return to OPS will be looked into after the Karnataka elections. The BJP is fearing a repeat of the Himachal Pradesh debacle in its southern citadel, and the latest relaxation by the Central Government may be an attempt at testing waters.

With over 10 lakh serving and retired state and central government employees in Karnataka, the BJP can not afford to antagonise this electorally powerful segment of voters ahead of Assembly polls.

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. And the feedback received from the local unit of BJP has revealed that the party needs to address fears over the NPS or else Congress will reap benefits from the same, sources said.

After its recent win in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress may soon be announcing a similar arrangement to be approved on OPS if it comes to power in Karnataka.

The Congress' overtures over the OPS issue haven’t gone unnoticed in the saffron party and the senior leadership is trying to formulate a strategy to counter it, sources said.

The BJP is also stuck in a dilemma as four electorally significant states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana -- are also scheduled to go for Assembly polls later this year. OPS has already been implemented in two of these Congress-ruled states, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. It will be important for the BJP to win back these states ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls to ensure it boosts the morale of its leaders and cadres.

Non-address of the issue is expected to adversely affect the poll outcomes in these states for the saffron front, hence the need to find a solution for the ticklish issue, sources said.

Over the past few months, the issue of reintroduction of the OPS for government employees is starting to turn into a major headache for the BJP.

Two of its allies, the Jannayak Janta Party and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, have already demanded a rethink over the issue.

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 storm back to power.

224-member Karnataka Legislative Assembly is scheduled to go to polls in the next few weeks.

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. The BJP had secured 25 seats of these, with one seat secured by an NDA ally, in the 2019 general elections.