K.S. Eshwarappa, the sidelined Karnataka BJP veteran who found himself back in the limelight after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to him on the phone last week, has iterated that his party does not need Muslim votes but expressed confidence that “nationalist Muslims” will support the BJP.

The remarks fly in the face of former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s claim that the Prime Minister has advised the party to reach out to Muslims. But with feedback from the ground suggesting the BJP faces a tough battle in the May 10 Assembly elections, the ruling party seems to have put all its eggs in the polarisation basket.

“There are some 60,000 to 65,000 (Muslim) voters in the city (Shimoga). I would like to tell you directly that we will not need a single Muslim vote,” Eshwarappa told a gathering of Lingayats near Yediyurappa’s home in Shimoga on Monday.

“Of course, there are Muslims who received our help and will vote for us…. Nationalist Muslims will certainly vote for the BJP.”

Eshwarappa, sacked last year as minister amid a corruption controversy, had last month too said the BJP needed the votes “only of nationalist Muslims”.

The BJP has not fielded a single Muslim candidate for the May 10 polls. The Janata Dal Secular has fielded 23 Muslims and the Congress 14 in the battle for the state’s 224 Assembly seats.

Muslims, who make up about 13 per cent of the state’ 5.21 crore voters, have historically tended to vote for the Congress and the Janata Dal Secular.

However, the communal polarisation triggered by the Sangh parivar’s campaign against the hijab, halal and so-called “love jihad” appears to have led to a consolidation of the Muslim vote that the Congress hopes to benefit from.

It was in this context that Yediyurappa had spoken of Modi’s advice to reach out to Muslims ahead of the state polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

The three major parties have, as usual, focused on the politically influential communities such as Lingayats, Vokkaligas, OBCs and Dalits, giving candidates from these groups the largest shares of nominations.

Eshwarappa, denied poll nomination for himself and his son, had retired from electoral politics. However, he has hit the campaign trail after being persuaded by the party.