BENGALURU: As the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections picks up pace, the fight is fierce between Congress and BJP-JDS alliance to woo the Vokkaliga community in the Old Mysuru region.
Soon after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah led a posse of leaders, including party candidates, to Adichuchanagiri Mutt head Sri Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji at the Mutt’s branch at Vijayanagara in Bengaluru recently, JDS state president HD Kumaraswamy went on a similar mission on Wednesday.
He and BJP leaders R Ashoka, Dr CN Ashwath Narayana, Mysore-Kodagu candidate Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar, V Somanna from Tumakuru, Tejsvi Surya from Bengaluru South and Dr CN Manjunath from Bengaluru Rural sought the blessings of the Vokkaliga swamiji.
“We are true devotees of the Mutt. Kumaraswamy, who is the BJP-JDS alliance candidate from Mandya, has swamiji’s blessings,” said former Mandya MP C S Puttaraju.
The visit by BJP-JDS alliance leaders did not seem to go down well with Deputy Chief Minister and KPCC president DK Shivakumar. He raised the issue of BJP bringing down the Kumaraswamy-led Congress-JDS alliance government in 2019. He indirectly attacked JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda and his party, accusing them of dividing the Vokkaliga community Mutt by planting an alternative Swamiji by establishing a separate mutt at Kengeri in the past when Sri Balagangadharanatha Swamiji was the head of Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt.
“Vokkaligas and swamiji are not stupid. The swamiji does not favour us or them (BJP-JDS). He is intelligent and does not interfere in politics. Our people also notice this. Couldn’t the swamiji have asked BJP whether the CM of our community was ousted in the alliance government? I don’t know if the swamiji has the strength to ask this or not. Isn’t this the same person (Kumaraswamy) who stepped down as chief minister who is taking BJP leaders to the swamiji today and getting his blessings,” he questioned.
“We (Congress) have given Lok Sabha tickets to eight people from the community. I am the DCM and party president. We are all ready to work for the development of the community and the state. Our community is not stupid,” he said.
Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar also set a narrative that the BJP-JDS alliance is averse to the Vokkaliga community as sitting MP Pratap Simha was replaced with Yaduveer, while Congress fielded M Lakshmana, a Vokkaliga, from the Mysuru-Kodagu constituency. That was the reason alliance partners were forced to visit the swamiji along with the candidates, they commented.
With the majority of Veerashaiva-Lingayat community likely to back BJP, the JDS leadership has the responsibility of getting a majority of Vokkaliga votes for alliance candidates.
BJP-JDS leaders too attacked Congress, saying the Grand Old Party was responsible for the fall of the Congress-JDS alliance government. Leader of Opposition R Ashoka said Siddaramaiah had a hand in removing Kumaraswamy as CM.