BENGALURU: As BJP sits down to introspect on its shock defeat in the Karnataka Assembly polls, one thing was clear, its Lingayat vote bank did not support the party as it did in the 2008 and 2018 polls.
Lingayats form around 17-20 per cent of the state’s population and have a tremendous influence on poll outcomes. In 2008, the community strongman and former chief minister BS Yediyurappa had gone before the community in tears, saying he had been cheated by the JDS by not transferring the power to him as promised. The community backed him fully then, and in 2018, there was zealous voting for BJP because of the allegation of breaking Veerashaivas and Lingayats against Congress.
This time, of the 69 tickets given to Veerashaiva-Lingayats by the BJP, only 18 won. One of the candidates and former minister V Somanna lost in both the constituencies he contested from.
Renuka Prasanna, who is the secretary of one of the most powerful community organisations -- Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Mahasabha, said, “The party promised the community reservation, but it did not work out. They went after the honey of reservation but it failed. What also cost them were local issues, in addition to allegations of harming the Veerashaiva Lingayat leadership.’’
Political analyst BS Murthy said, “The Lingayats are about 20 per cent and BJP did not know how to keep the constituents satisfied that cost them dearly. In Congress, 34 of the 46 Veerashaiva-Lingayats won, which is a strike rate of 74 per cent which is very good.’’
The total number of Veerashaiva-Lingayat MLAs in 1967 was 90, in 1972, it was 77 and in 1983 when Ramakrishna Hegde became chief minister, it was 77. Later, other communities played catchup. In 1989, when Congress won its highest tally of 179 seats, there were 41 Veerashaiva Lingayat legislators.
BJP’S HOLD
From 2004, the BJP gained a foothold in the district which was otherwise electing Congress, JDS and independent candidates. The Datta Peeta Liberation Movement, Dattamala Abhiyan, Shobha Yatra and Dharma Sansad helped the BJP to increase its votes