Mutts of various castes are located in Chitradurga district, but few have influence over the voters. Also, the heads of these hermitages are not openly supporting any political party or leader.Most influential among these is Sirigere Mutt of the Sadu Lingayats, a large population in central Karnataka region mainly in Davangere, Shivamogga and Chitradurga.The party that has support of this voter base usually forms the next government.
Cleaner elections
Dr Shivamurthy Shivacharya Swamy who heads the Taralabalu mutt, of Sadu Lingayats, has made sincere attempts to clean up elections and help farmers. Therefore, he too has a strong influence here.Nearly all politicians visit the mutt, most recently it saw a visit from Amit Shah too.Devotees of the Murugha Mutt, which holds sway in the Hyderabad-Karnataka and Mumbai-Karnataka regions, may favour Congress after their decision to support the Lingayat community’s demand for a religious minority status. But, the mutt’s seer Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru has not openly championed anyone.
The Congress also has a supporter in Kanaka Gurupeet Niranjananadapuri Swami, who had gone to meet Rahul Gandhi. Kurubha community, in sizable numbers, place absolute faith in Kellodu amd Bellodi branches of the Kaginele Kanaka Gurupeet. The seer himself had openly urged the community to support Siddaramaiah.
‘No politics please’
There are devotees who are asking pontiffs to stay out of politics, like the Madigas who are present in large numbers in Chitradurga, Davangere and Shivamogga districts.
Basavamurthy Madara Channaiah Swamy, who heads the Madara Channaiah Gurupeet, is their seer and he did have hold over the voters until several months ago, when he seemed to be taking an interest in politics. Devotees started a campaign asking the seer to remain neutral.
There are also highly influential seers like Immadi Siddarameshwara Swamy who has made no attempt to swing the votes. He heads Bhovi Gurupeet, which has a pan Karnataka influence -- right from Bidar in the north to Chamarajanagar in South Karnataka.