BJP's mission Karnataka: In preparation for alliance with JDS

The BJP has started exploring possibilities of a new alliance for the assembly elections to be held in Karnataka in April next year. Under this, the party is preparing for an alliance with the ideologically opposed JDS. By doing this, it wants to cultivate 89 seats (Vokkaligga dominated) in the old Mysore region.
In Karnataka, which has 224 assembly seats, the majority mark to form the government is 113. In the last assembly elections, the BJP got a total of 104 seats. Of these, the BJP could win only 22 out of 89 seats in the old Mysore region. Congress had won 32 and JDS 31 seats.
The area is also the home constituency of former Prime Minister and JDS chief HD Deve Gowda. There has been a direct fight between JDS and Congress. Despite being the single largest party by winning more than 100 seats, the BJP missed out on forming the government as the JDS extended its unconditional support to the Congress.
Sources say that the BJP wants to first focus on its weakness in this region of the state so that it can win more than 80% of the seats in the old Mysore region. A senior BJP leader says that a big factor in the election is sentiment. People's sentiment especially regarding local leaders affects the results.
In 2009, JDS had not supported the BJP, especially Yeddyurappa under the two-and-a-half-year CM formula, and the government had fallen. After that, the sympathy factor was in favour of Yeddyurappa and the BJP won the election. After this Yeddyurappa parted ways with the BJP and the BJP lost the election.
BJP's Yeddyurappa had to fight the last election by doing the CM project, while he was 76 years old. Sources say that the BJP had to take this decision because the party does not have a bigger leader than Yeddyurappa who can take care of Lingayat (BJP's core voter). Vasabraj Bombay was made the CM, who comes from this Lingayat community.