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Leadership row: Yediyurappa continues outreach to different groups to gain support
Bengaluru Chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday continued his review meetings of caste-specific boards and corporations in what is being seen as an attempt to reach out to groups that are traditionally not known to back the 78-year-old or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Bengaluru Chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday continued his review meetings of caste-specific boards and corporations in what is being seen as an attempt to reach out to groups that are traditionally not known to back the 78-year-old or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The chief minister held meetings on the Basava Kalyana, Kaginele and Sangolli Rayanna development board meetings on Monday, which relates to the Lingayat and Kuruba communities.
In the Basava Kalyana development board meeting, the chief minister approved an action plan for the ongoing fiscal which involves several projects.
“Out of 134 works taken up by the board, 76 works have been completed and 58 works are pending. The state government has earmarked Rs.500 crore for the Anubhava Mantapa Project and Rs.200 crore have been allocated during the current financial year. Anubhava Mantapa is coming up in an area of 101 acres of land. Philanthropists have donated 11.25 acres of land freely and the remaining 69 acres needs to be acquired from various farmers,” a statement by the chief minister’s office (CMO) stated.
The board pertains to the Lingayats, believed to be the single largest caste-group in the state, and who have until now considered Yediyurappa to be their undisputed political leader.
However, the recent row involving the Panchamasali, the biggest sub-sect within the Lingayats, has bracketed Yediyurappa into a member of the Banajiga sub-sect and have sought to have one of their own instated in the top office if the BJP high command does decide to replace the 78-year-old.
This was followed by Kaginele Development Board, a place where saint-poet Kanakadasa is believed to be buried and is one of the most important places for the politically active Kuruba community. Even the Sangolli Rayanna development board meeting was held on Monday, which appears to be an effort to expedite all works to show visible progress in the outreach to communities, like the Kurubas, who have backed former chief minister and leader of the opposition, Siddaramaiah.
Yediyurappa has made boards for Lingayats, Vokkaligas, Kurbas, Brahmins and Marathas among other groups to help earn their backing to keep him in power till 2023 and also aspires to lead the BJP to the assembly elections two years later.
On July 6, Yediyurappa approved around ₹223 crore worth of works in the Kempe Gowda Development Board.
During the 512th Kempe Gowda Jayanthi celebrations on June 27, a prominent Vokkaliga seer also requested the chief minister to rename the Metro project and put up a bust of the person widely believed to have installed the foundation for the city of Bengaluru. He is also associated with the politically dominant Vokkaliga community, believed to be the second largest in the state.
The request came in after Yediyurappa announced to install the statue of the 12th century social reformer, Basavanna inside Vidhana Soudha’s premises.
The developments come at a time when Siddaramaiah has also backed marginalised communities to take the legal route to get Yediyurappa to release the findings of the Socio economic and educational survey, better known as caste-census, as a way to get the government to review the perceived size of dominant groups and the benefits they currently get under the existing provisions of reservation.
