Give tickets, get community support, Lingayats tell Karnataka Congress

The leaders urged Mohan Prakash, screening committee chairman, to give maximum representation to bring the community back into the Congress fold.
Image used for representational purpose only. (File photo)
Image used for representational purpose only. (File photo)

BENGALURU:  The Congress, which lost the support of Lingayats in the 1990s, will need to make some special overtures to the community and give more tickets to Lingayat candidates, was the thinking among Veerashaiva-Lingayat leaders who met in Bengaluru on Thursday. 

At a meeting of sitting MLAs, former ministers and about 100 aspirants from the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community seeking Congress tickets for the  polls, the community urged the party to accommodate more Lingayat candidates in the southern region. The meeting was chaired by Davanagere South MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa, who is also president of the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha.

The leaders urged Mohan Prakash, screening committee chairman, to give maximum representation to bring the community back into the Congress fold, as was the case before the unceremonious unseating of former CM Veerendra Patil. Their complaint was that in eight districts  Chamarajanagar, Mandya, Mysuru, Hassan, Ramanagara,  Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Chitradurga and Tumakuru  there are about 40,000 Lingayat voters, and at one time there were about 20 Lingayat MLAs from these areas alone.

Once the Congress began neglecting the community, the decisive support for the party began to evaporate, and this is clearly visible in assembly elections results from 1957 to 2018. The group, which analysed the poll results, wrote to the Congress to say community leaders are ready to return. They also noted that over the years, 24 Lingayat MLAs lost out because of delimitation and reservation. They also reminded the party that in 2013, Lingayats supported the Congress and 26 Lingayat leaders got elected. 

Political analyst B S Murthy noted, “Lingayats note that in eight districts of South Karnataka, the Congress used to field just one Lingayat, the late Mahadev Prasad. There was unhappiness that even for the Bengaluru corporation elections, the Congress chose just one or two Lingayat candidates in about 200 wards, which is grave injustice. If the Congress fields more Lingayats, it can rightfully ask the community for votes again.’’  In 2018, BJP fielded 67 Lingayats while Congress fielded 43. “Lingayats are spread over 150 seats and can help any party win,’’ Veerashaiva Mahasabha secretary Renuka Prasanna said.

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