Bengaluru: BJP’s Former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar’s joining Congress party earlier this week has not moved the enigmatic Lingayat in the state. Signals from the Lingayat belt in 12 districts of three regions of Karnataka indicate that the Lingayats might still continue to be divided in their political preferences and will only be led by their religious institutions and Swamijis.
No doubt both B. S. Yediyurappa and Jagadish Shettar are tall leaders of the Lingayat community. It is because of their leadership that the Veerashaivas had also put up with Lingayats and gave a big boost to the BJP in at least three zones. Mumbai Karnataka is the biggest zone of the Lingayat belt has 3 districts and 24 Assembly constituencies.
The Lingayat voter population in this zone is to the tune of 35-40 %. Sidelining of B. S. Yediyurappa had begun in BJP in 2022 when he voluntarily announced his retirement from electoral politics and was made a member of the Core Committee of the party. This chain of events had somehow pacified the Lingayat votes when it comes to BSY as they felt their interests were taken care of by the BJP by elevating BSY to the core committee. In addition, his elder son B. Y. Raghavendra is already an MP and now his younger son B. Y. Vijendra has been given a ticket to contest from Shikaripura in Shivamogga District which has also doubly assured the Lingayats of BSY’s presence though indirectly.
However, in the case of Jagadish Shettar, things are different. He had not made efforts to depict himself as a tall leader of the Lingayat and mostly depended on the party’s Hindutva ideology, and grew under the shadow of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and B. S. Yediyurappa during his long stint in BJP. But the advantage is that Shettar has plummeted into a Lingayat leader in the Congress ecosystem overnight which will give some sudden impact effect to the BJP Lingayat chemistry.
The Congress will gain largely in the Lingayat belt in terms of votes as well as influence in the strong Lingayat community. The rich and strong Lingayat mathas were followed by the Veerashaiva community headed by Swamijis of the mathas and the network of religious workers and cadres. But Congress must also be careful about how best to use the presence of Shettar among the Lingayat voters and influencers. Shettar also faces the imminent challenge of Lingayats expecting something big from him in terms of support to the community.
This is where the INC might step in and float a narrative that Lingayat leaders particularly Jagadish Shettar neglected in BJP and it was an insult to the Lingayat.
How is this going to affect the polls? If the Lingayat votes are to be won over by the INC it must launch narratives stating that Lingayats are not safe with the BJP and sooner or later the party will launch the Vaishnava v/s Shaiva narrative and push back Lingayats and Veerashaivas.