High-decibel campaigning for the Karnataka Assembly polls is on with the ruling BJP and principal opposition within the state Congress aiming to bag 150 seats within the 224-member Assembly and woo the Lingayat group which includes 18 per cent of the state`s inhabitants and is a kingmaker. During the tenure of Congress chief Virendra Patil as Chief Minister, Lingayat group used to again the grand-old celebration and was thought-about its vote financial institution. The Congress misplaced the assist of the Lingayat group when the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi eliminated Patil, who hailed from the group, from the Chief Minister`s publish. The group voted for BJP throughout the tenure of senior celebration chief B. S. Yediyurappa. As quickly because the BJP eliminated Yediyurappa from the Chief Minister`s publish, after which the chief stop the celebration, the BJP misplaced the next polls.
However, when he got here again to the BJP`s fold, the Lingayat group once more voted for the BJP and it got here to energy within the subsequent polls. State`s political historical past reveals that the Lingayat group is the kingmaker. The political energy of the group could be gauged from the truth that when in 2021, the choice to alter the chief minister was taken, then for changing lingayat chief Yediyurappa, Basavraj Bommai, a Lingayat chief, was chosen. Despite eradicating Yediyurappa from the Chief Minister`s publish, the BJP, realising his affect, made him the member of the celebration`s parliamentary board, the best decision-making physique of the saffron celebration. Moreover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah proceed to indicate their respect to him on public boards.
On the opposite hand, the Congress can be making all out efforts to woo the Lingayat group. As quickly as former chief minister and BJP chief Jagadish Shettar who comes from the Lingayat group, determined to stop the saffron celebration, the Congress welcomed and inducted him into its fold. The Congress welcomed and inducted Shettar and Laxaman Savadi, who stop the BJP as they had been disenchanted over not getting ticket within the Assembly polls. In reality, the Congress with this transfer has initiated a marketing campaign to venture the BJP as “anti-Lingayat” group celebration. After Shettar stop the BJP, a gathering was held at Yediyurappa`s home during which it was determined to run a `Lingayat Chief Minister` marketing campaign. Responding to the Congress prices, BJP leaders stated that if the Lingayat group desires a Lingayat chief to be a chief minister, it ought to vote for the saffron celebration.
During a press convention, Bommai claimed that previously 50 years, since 1967, the Congress has not made any Lingayat Chief Minister besides Virendra Patil for 9 months. It is being seen as a transparent political message for Lingayat group voters. Political arithmatic of Karnataka is that Lingayat group, an higher caste which includes 18 per cent of the state inhabitants, dominates districts of the northern a part of the state. Lingayats maintain the important thing to round 100 seats within the Assembly. In the 2018 Assembly polls, 60 MLAs had been from the Lingayat group.
