CHIKKAMAGALURU : With the exit of Lingayat leader HD Thammaiah, a 14-year-old associate of BJP national general secretary and Chikkamagaluru MLA CT Ravi, the election for this seat has turned into a battle of prestige for the saffron party.
Thammaiah joined the Congress last February, and Ravi, who has been on a winning spree since 2004, has had to work out a new strategy to gain the trust of Lingayats, who have supported him all along. Lingayats, who are in sizable numbers, are the deciding factor for the BJP and Congress.
The Congress leaders’ plan was to humble Ravi by fielding a Lingayat candidate. Among six ticket aspirants, were two Lingayats -- Mahadimane Sathish and BH Harish. Sathish is the block Congress president of Sakrayapatna hobli, and his influence is limited. Harish, who had contested on a JDS ticket in 2018 and polled 37,988 votes, had switched to the Congress and was hopeful of the party ticket, following KPCC president DK Shivakumar’s assurance.
In the meantime, Ravi’s close associate Thammaiah fell out with him, and hopped to the Congress, which had to select one among the Lingayat aspirants. After a series of meetings and deliberations from the block level to the top, the Congress high command saw a formidable candidate in Thammaiah and announced his candidature just two days ahead of the date for filing nominations. All aspirants, after some persuasion, agreed to work for the party candidate.
Thammaiah was basically a Congress man and CMC member and president in 1996, and is a good organiser and speaker. His forte is that, as a BJP insider, he knows the ins and outs of the BJP’s electoral strategy. During his tenure, he had earned the goodwill of micro-communities and minorities by taking up welfare schemes. Some sections say he is a frequent party-hopper, and the general belief is that he cannot wield complete influence on the Lingayat community.
Thammaiah said his aim is to ensure Ravi’s defeat. People are fed up with rampant corruption, allegedly nurtured by Ravi and his cousin in contracts, and this, along with Lingayat anger, will work in his favour, he said.