BENGALURU: With Chief Minister Siddaramaiah loyalists and ministers hailing from minority, Backward Classes and Dalit communities allegedly trying to snub DyCM and KPCC president DK Shivakumar for failing to fetch Vokkaliga votes for Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, the latter has devised a strategy to counter them, according sources.
He has prepared a report based on a survey by a private agency. According to the report, even voters from Backward Classes and Dalit communities did not back the Congress in the LS polls as they did in the Assembly elections last year, especially in the Old Mysore region.
Shivakumar may place the report before the party high command to nail Siddaramaiah loyalists. He wants to drive home a point that these communities are no more with the Congress. Even Kurubas, who backed the Congress as Siddaramaiah hails from that community in the Assembly polls, did not support the party wholeheartedly in the Lok Sabha elections. The party managed to win only Hassan and Chamarajanagar LS seats in the region.
Meanwhile, a delegation of about 15 Veerashaiva-Lingayat legislators led by former minister Vinay Kulakarni is likely to meet the party high command in New Delhi soon and lodge a complaint against Siddaramaiah loyalists for not “treating” them properly. These legislators may complain against Urban Development and Town Planning Minister Byrati Suresh and Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna, who are considered close to the chief minister, the sources said.