Dharawad: Congress Leader Jagadish Shettar met seers of the community in Hubballi in a bid to seek their support for the party. He was accompanied by party leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
The meeting between the Lingayat seers and+ Congress leaders Shamanur Shivashankarappa and Jagadish Shettar was held on May 7 with less than 48 hours to go for voting in the Assembly elections.
Shettar, a Former Chief Minister, who recently joined Congress after being denied a ticket from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Laxman Savadi, who formerly served as the Deputy CM during the B. S. Yediyurappa-led BJP Government, belong to the Lingayat Community, which is believed to have a crucial impact on electoral outcomes in the state.
The Lingayat votes have traditionally been a key determinant of electoral outcomes in the state. The community has traditionally-sided with the BJP and several Lingayat-dominated regions of the state are considered to be saffron strongholds.
Lingayats are largely concentrated in North Karnataka, in the districts of Belagavi, Dharawad, and Gadag. They also have a considerable presence in Bagalakote, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi, Bidar and Raichur. They also inhabit vast swathes of South Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, Mysuru and Mandya.