Yeddyurappa, a fiery leader believed to be the source of the Lingayats’ support for the BJP, has been criss-crossing the state to campaign for the party.
Even in the former CM’s own village, people are getting ready to vote on caste lines, which means the BJP will have to work hard to win over non-Lingayats.
The Lingayats have traditionally voted for a leader and not a party. A chief ministerial aspirant from their community would make them vote for that party.
The PM is trying to downplay Siddaramaiah’s popularity by making it a Modi vs Rahul battle. If the BJP wins, it will be seen as his victory over Rahul.
The CBI had, in November, said it could not take forward the probe into the mining scam. But in March, Siddaramaiah announced an SIT to continue the probe.
The head priest of the Shiva shrine is a Veerashaiva-Lingayat, and the BJP hopes Modi's visit to the temple before launching his Karnataka campaign will help win the hearts of Lingayats.
Many of the 154 candidates declared in the first two lists were ministers & MLAs when BJP won Karnataka in 2008, but also face criminal & corruption charges.
The Modi govt first put all its eggs into the US basket when the unipolar moment was clearly over. It subsequently overcorrected, accommodating an aggressive China.
In the latest budget, the FDI limit was increased to 100 percent, but most foreign companies are not buying such large stakes in the Indian insurance sector.
As Narendra Modi becomes India’s second-longest consecutively serving Prime Minister, we look at how he compares with Indira Gandhi across four key dimensions.
COMMENTS