The back-to-back leaving of prominent Lingayat leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka has worried the saffron party. As B.S. Yediyurappa is no more in electorate politics, it has further aggravated the situation for the ruling party in the state.
Ever since the BJP orchestrated the exit of BSY as Chief Minister and brought Basvarah Bommai, it has been facing the heat for one reason or the other.
Though Bommai is a Lingayat, he doesn’t enjoy the confidence of majority of Lingayat maths.
The BJP’s plans of wooing Lingayats and Vokkaligas by allotting 2 per cent internal reservation by knocking of minorities and putting them EWS reservation basket has Karnataka: Pre-poll blues strike BJP as Lingayat leaders jettison party backfired as the Supreme Court has admonished the government over this and now, the entire exercise is in legal quagmire. To further exacerbate the situation, over half a dozen Lingayat leaders have rebelled for being denied ticket this election. First of all, former Deputy Chief Minister Lakshman Savadi and now former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar have led the rebellion by joining Congress and are now contesting in their respective constituencies. Following the political developments in the state, the Karnataka Congress is garnering popularity among the Lingayats who form 17 per cent of the voters, the highest for any caste in the state. The consolidation of the Lingayats comes from the fact that Shammanur Shivashankrappa, 96-year-old Congress candidate from Dasvangere, wwwho is also the president of the Viwa Linagayat-Veerashaiva Mahasaba, is bringing the Lingayats of BJP under Congress banner. Interestingly, the Lingayat family of the Congress is now a formidable force led by Shammanur. Jagadish Shettar’s son is married to Shamannur’s granddaughter. Another prominent Lingayat leader of Congress, M B Patil, who is also a chief ministerial contender is part of the group. MB Patil’s son is married to another granddaughter of Shammanur. With all of them coming together, they can not only be called the first Linagayat family of Congress party but also the state. On the other hand, the big three hold sway in more than 10 districts–Hubli Dharwad, Davangere-Chitradurga-Haveru, Bijapur-Kalburgi-Koppal-Bidar-Bagalkote, which has Linagayt dominance and also hundreds of powerful Lingayat maths. The three of them run several educational institutions including medical, engineering, charitable trusts, hospitals, schools, etc. Educationists from Hubli-Belgaum belt and another prominent Linagayat Prabhakar Kore is also upset with party and has abstained from party activities. Although the BJP is still riding on the charm of B S Yediyurappa, the new force seems to be playing out heavily as BSY is out of electorate politics and it is an open secret that the Lingayat strongman was confined to home after he quit as CM as his tour plans were not approved by the party high command. List of Lingayat leaders who have rebelled and quit party: Jagadish Shettar, Lakshman Savadi, Manjunath Kannur, Raju Kannur, Santosh, BSY’s nephew, Sogudu Shivanna and Nehru Olekar. While this has caused quite a stir in BJP as far as Lingayats are concerned, there are several other leaders who have been sidelined leading to rebellion from other castes including A Ramdas who has strong RSS connections.
