Karnataka elections: Parties battle it out to woo crucial Lingayat vote bank
The leaders are believed to have asked BS Yediyurappa to convince the party to announce that its chief minister will be from the community.
With the Congress touting the defection of two senior Lingayat leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi, state BJP leaders want their party to name a “Lingayat CM” to counter the fallout.

According to party leaders familiar with the discussions, former chief minister and Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa on Wednesday night held a meeting with legislators from the community, including chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, to discuss ways to counter the Congress’s narrative of the BJP as “anti-Lingayat”.
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The leaders are believed to have asked Yediyurappa to convince the party to announce that its chief minister will be from the community so as to consolidate votes from the community. Yediyurappa is not contesting the election but his son BY Vijayendra is the BJP candidate from family bastion Shikaripur in Shivamogga district.
Bommai is also a Lingayat, but most party leaders, including Yediyurappa, have thus far avoided any mention of him as chief minister. Bommai was doing good work, Yediyurappa said in an interview to HT this week, but added that any call on a chief minister would be taken only after the results.
This approach could hurt the BJP, people present at Wednesday night’s meeting said.
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“There was a consensus that if the party fails to announce a Lingayat as the chief minister candidate retaining the community’s vote would not be easy,” said a senior BJP leader who was in the meeting and who asked not to be named.
The politically influential Lingayat community accounts for around 17% of the state’s population. The community has traditionally backed the BJP but the departure of senior Lingayat leaders and the manner of their exits -- they left after they were not named candidates -- has caused a stir. Shettar , a former BJP CM of the state, has been named as star campaigner by the Congress.
Talking to reporters about the meeting on Thursday, Bommai said, “There were some suggestions (on Lingayat CM). Dharmendra Pradhan (the Union minister who is the Karnataka election in-charge of the BJP) was also there. He (Pradhan) said he would convey our sentiments (on the need for Lingayat CM) to the high command.”
Responding to a reporter’s question about the Congress branding the BJP “anti-Lingayat”, the chief minister lashed out: “You want to keep the issue alive? In the last 50 years since 1967, the Congress has not made a Lingayat as the chief minister except for the nine-month tenure of Veerendra Patil.”
Bommai added: “Don’t ask this question again!” There were several instances that show how poorly the Congress treated senior Lingayat leaders, the chief minister said, and added that people would not forget how the party tried to break the community (by demanding a separate religious status for it) to create a vote bank five years ago.
The Congress, meanwhile, has been attempting to break the BJP’s Lingayat hold since the exit of two senior Lingayat leaders from the ruling party, and amid rumours of Yediyurappa being sidelined.
State Congress chief D K Shivakumar has claimed that 2-3% of Veershaiva-Lingayat votes are shifting towards the Congress after Shettar and Savadi joined the party.
“Our estimation was that we would win 141 seats. After Shettar and Savadi joined the party, we will reach 150 seats (out of a total of 224),” Shivakumar said.
