Lingayata fort key to BJP to pass caste hurdle in Karnataka
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, March 4: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) victory in Tripura has buoyed the party leaders in Karnataka. Yet, the saffron outfit has the caste marshland to cross in Karnataka to repeat the feat of bagging pro-incumbency mandate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading the BJP to pamper the former chief minister BS Yediyurappa in the desperation to hold on to the 16.5 per cent Lingayata vote base in the state. This caste group, which sometimes agitates for a separate religion identity, remains the magical pathway for the BJP to retain power in Karnataka. While the incumbent chief minister Basavaraj Bommai hails from the Lingayata community, Yediyurappa remains the major pull for the community.
The caste equation in Karnataka is dominated by the Lingayata. The other backward castes (OBCs) are the largest group with 21 per cent vote base in Karnataka. The scheduled castes with 17.1 per cent vote base are the second largest constituencies followed by the Lingayatas at 16.5 per cent vote base in the state.
Muslim voters constitute 13.5 per cent of the electorate in Karnataka. The Vokkaliga community also has 13.5 per cent vote base in the state. Kuruba holds seven per cent vote base, followed by Brahmins at four per cent and the Jain community has one per cent strength.
“Though there are many Vokkaliga leadres in the BJP, they are not in positions to impress their caste as the caste voters are mostly with the HD Kumaraswamy headed Janata Dal (Secular) and DK Shivakumar, who is the chief of the Congress unit in Karnataka,” said a Bengaluru-based political observer.
It may be noted that the former chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramiah hails from the Kuruba caste. “Shivakumar is attempting to snatch the voters who are with Kumarswamy by playing the trump card that time has come to make a Vokkaliga chief minister in the state,” added the political observer. This opens the prospects for the division in the vote base of the Vokkaliga caste, which could please the BJP.
The BJP is counting on several of its state leaders to appeal to the SC, ST and OBC vote base. “Besides Govind Karjol, former deputy chief minister in the BSY Cabinet Aravind Limbavali and ex-minister Raju Gowda are influential for the BJP to appeal to the target caste groups,” said a senior BJP functionary.
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