SHIVAMOGGA: There are murmurs in political circles in Shivamogga district that the anger among the Banjara community following the State Government’s move to implement internal reservation for SCs and the scrapping of quota for Muslims could pose a threat to the political future of former chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra. This comes at a time when Yediyurappa is trying to field his son from Shikaripura.
As per the latest electoral roll, the total number of voters in the segment is 1,95,371. Even though there is no official data on caste-wise voters, the Banjara community is the second largest after Lingayats in the seat. While the Banjara voters are around 30,000, Lingayats, including all sub-castes, account for over 60,000 and the Muslim number around 25,000. While Yediyurappa has been enjoying the support of the Banjara community, Muslims also support him, thanks to his secular image.
Yediyurappa established the Tanda Development Corporation and provided basic amenities to the Banjara localities. He also released grants for the development of a Banjara pilgrimage centre at Suragondanakoppa.
Even though Yediyurappa is not in the government, the SC internal reservation announcement and scrapping of the 4% reservation for Muslims by the government have caused concern among his supporters. Shikaripura has been the stronghold of Yediyurappa since 1983, the first time he contested and defeated K Yankannappa (Congress). He went on to retain the constituency until Congress’ Mahalingappa defeated him in 1999.
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As he contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, he sacrificed the seat for his elder son Raghavendra who won the bypoll held in the same year. Yediyurappa won from Shikaripura in the 2018 Assembly polls.
The Congress is also alleging that Yediyurappa’s rivals within the BJP were behind the recent stone-throwing incident and are hatching a conspiracy against Yediyurappa to defeat Vijayendra. There is also an opinion that if the Congress, unlike in previous elections, manages to field a strong candidate against Vijayendra, the contest could be a thriller.