BENGALURU: The exit of top Lingayat leaders - former CM Jagadish Shettar and former DCM Laxman Savadi - have reportedly dented BJP’s Lingayat vote bank on which the party heavily banks and the central leadership is “not very happy” about the recent developments, informed sources said.
“The ground reports post Savadi and Shettar exits are not very encouraging and the BJP high command is reportedly upset over the gross miscalculation, which may have led to the latest debacle. The party is now working on damage control and heavily banking on former CM and Lingayat strongman BS Yediyurappa to regain some of the lost ground with the community,” said sources.
“Though Yediyurappa had single-handedly garnered the trust and support of the Lingayats, which brought BJP to power, the community, which had voted for the individual and not the party, may not vote for the saffron party this time because they know that Yediyurappa will neither become CM nor be given any significant role in the state after the Assembly elections.
The Lingayats may instead like to go with the Congress party and put their might behind MB Patil, who has strong chances of becoming CM or at least DCM if the party wins the mandate this time,” said party insiders.
Patil recently announced that he too is a CM aspirant along with KPCC president DK Shivakumar and CLP leader Siddaramaiah. Sources said that Shettar’s press conference in which he spoke about his humiliation by the BJP leadership in his unblemished political career has not gone down well with the Lingayats.
‘He tried very hard to remain in BJP’
“He literally wept before quitting BJP. He didn’t want to leave the party and tried very hard, knocking on all possible doors for a ticket. He waited till Sunday midnight. Next morning, he joined the Congress. He is a soft spoken, amiable man, but a strong decision maker. The Congress in no time turned Shettar’s ‘insult’ into its election strategy and is building a narrative around ‘insult to Lingayats’ to appease the dominant community,” the sources said.
Shettar, a six-time MLA, former CM, leader of opposition in the Assembly, ex-speaker and party president joined the Congress on April 17 after BJP denied him ticket for Hubballi-Dharwad Central seat.
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