Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to win just 16 of the total 50 seats in the six districts of Kittur-Karnataka (northwestern region), where Lingayats are the dominant community and hold sway in a significant number of seats.
The BJP had won 30 in these districts in 2018 and had pinned its hopes of Lingayats backing it this time around as well. Out of the six districts in Haveri district, outgoing chief minister Basavaraj Bommai (Shiggaon) was the lone BJP candidate to win while the remaining seats went to the Congress.
The Congress, which was hoping to get its maximum gains in these parts and eat into the BJP’s core support base, nearly doubled its tally as the number of seats swelled from 17 in 2018 to 33 seats this time.
The Janata Dal (Secular) or JD(S) won 1 seat in Vijayapura and drew a blank in all other districts in the region.
Since the unceremonious removal of Veerendra Patil as CM by Rajiv Gandhi in 1990, Lingayats in Karnataka have largely backed the BJP. This consolidation was strengthened after B.S. Yediyurappa emerged as the community’s tallest leader.
The Kittur-Karnataka region, where Lingayats assert themselves in terms of voting patterns, comprises six districts, namely Gadag, Belagavi, Haveri, Dharwad, Vijayapura and Bagalkot. Of the 50 seats in these districts, the BJP won 30 in 2018 as against 13 in 2013.
Though a few constituencies from Uttara Kannada are also considered part of Kittur-Karnataka, the district is classified as being part of the coastal region.
This time around, anger simmering among sections of the Lingayat community was a major factor in play since a number of religious and community leaders had openly asked their followers not to back the BJP. The Congress tried to widen this rupture by alleging repeatedly that the BJP had ‘insulted and humiliated’ the Lingayat community.
According to party sources, the Congress’ calculation was that the Lingayats, who account for an estimated 17 per cent of the state’s population, would be upset with the removal of Yediyurappa as CM. This narrative picked up steam after the BJP denied tickets to three prominent Lingayat leaders — former CM Jagadish Shettar, Laxman Savadi and Mahadevappa Yadawad. Shettar and Savadi later joined the Congress.
Shettar lost to BJP’s Mahesh Tenginkai, who managed 59.27 per cent of votes. The former chief minister secured just 60,775 votes against his rival who bagged 95,064 votes, according to data by the Election Commission of India.
Savadi rode the Congress wave at Athani in Belagavi with 1,31,404 votes (68.34 per cent) as against BJP’s Mahesh Kumathalli, who managed just 55,282 votes (28.75 per cent).
The Congress was targeting Kittur-Karnataka and districts in central Karnataka, including Davanagere, Shivamogga, and Chikkamagaluru, which have a high concentration of Lingayats. It is also hoping for gains in the Kalyana-Karnataka region and Belagavi, a border district with 18 seats.
Infighting, ‘Brahmin lobby’
Those in the know of things say anger among sections of the Lingayats preceded Yediyurappa’s removal since leaders and legislators within the BJP had started to bad-mouth the 80-year-old soon after he took over as chief minister in 2019.
Anonymous letters were written by his own party men calling for Yediyurappa’s removal and some like Arvind Bellad and members of the old guard even frequented Delhi, seeking a change in leadership, Lingayat leaders said.
Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, the firebrand legislator and catalyst in the Panchamasali agitation, took frequent potshots at Yediyurappa. The MLA from Vijayapura City faced no repercussions, nor was he pulled up by the high command for speaking out against the BJP’s own CM, say political analysts.
Similarly, no action was taken against BJP minister K.S. Eshwarappa who in April 2021 wrote to the Karnataka governor accusing Yediyurappa and his son B.Y. Vijayendra of interference with the functioning of the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) department.
Moreover, sections of the Lingayats accuse Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai — also a Lingayat — of breaking his promise and accommodating the community in the 2A category of the state’s Backward Classes list. His government’s decision to instead create two new categories (2C and 2D) was seen as more of a political stunt than a sincere effort to assuage growing discontentment within the community or its leaders.
In April last year, prominent Lingayat religious leader Dingaleshwara Swami alleged that even Mutts had to pay the state government bribes to the tune of 30 per cent to secure the release of grants.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)