Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has returned from Delhi after meeting the Prime Minister amid reports that his exit as the CM at the behest of the BJP high command appear more imminent than ever before. While initially Yediyurappa told the media that the decision is the high command’s and he will abide by any decision, his actions in the last few days hint at a different tale.
Adding heft to Yediyurappa’s position as the undisputed leader of the electorally powerful Lingayat community, a show of camaraderie was put up by leaders of the Lingayat community with Congress leaders MB Patil and Shamanur Shivashankarappa visiting BS Yediyurappa. Then on July 20 Tuesday, over a dozen pontiffs from various mutts across the state paid a visit and expressed their support. In the space of 24 hours, Yediyurappa, who was until recently considered as the indisputable leader of the entire Lingayat community, seemed consolidated.
The visit from two prominent Congress leaders—former Water Resources Minister MB Patil and the veteran Shamanur Shivashankarappa who is the president of Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Mahasabha is politically beneficial to all parties involved. The timing of the meeting is not coincidental and the leaders were not shy to openly speak out either. "If any action is taken against CM Yediyurappa, the community will give a befitting answer to BJP," Shamanur Shivashankarappa told reporters following his “courtesy” meeting with the CM. Patil, a prominent leader in his own right too, was not shy to state that the BJP will lose its Lingayat vote bank if Yediyurappa is knocked off his perch.
Chandan Gowda, a political analyst and professor at Institute for Social and Economic Change, said, “The visit is a testament to Yediyurappa’s stature among the Lingayats in the present. Until Yediyurappa consolidated the Lingayats voter support base, the community wasn’t this unified as a political unit with the sub-castes competing for electoral influence. The open statements by these Congress leaders also show that they expect to earn the goodwill of the Lingayats in their own constituencies. It is also clear that these leaders don't have a problem in being identified as primarily Lingayat leaders over and above their party affiliations.”
He added, “MB Patil, who is yet to establish himself as a tall community leader, might wish to regain some of his lost political capital over his role in the controversial demand for getting Lingayats classified as a separate religion.”
Lingayats along with Vokkaligas are the most influential community in Karnataka having almost the same proportion of the population. And since the removal of Veerendra Patil as the CM of the state by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, political pundits agree that Yediyurappa has emerged as the most prominent face of Lingayats within the state. And in the process helped the BJP emerge and consolidate its base for the first time in south India. Yediyurappa’s rise as the tallest Lingayat’s leader also naturally meant the drop in Lingayat support for the Congress. In fact, even other community leaders too are not shy to share stages when it comes to community events held by religious seers. And removal of Yediyurappa now by the high command is likely to have a similar effect for the party as it did with Veerendra Patil’s for the Congress, says poll observers.
Among political observers in the state, the friction between Yediyurappa and the High Command is a long lasting love affair and is secret to none. And the recent episode of his potential resignation and the previous tropes with silent backing from his beta noir BL Santosh is a continued extension of the same. However, as things stand, Yediyurappa himself has denied the speculations of his resignation till date.
The matter of his resignation which had been in the boil for a long time now had seemed settled following last month’s visit by BJP National Secretary and party-in-charge Arun Singh in the state. At that time, every notable leader had sung in the same tune about Yediyurappa completing the current tenure. But with fast paced developments and the increasing flexing of his political muscle, it looks like Yediyurappa will not go without a fight.