Why The BJP’s Lingayat, Vokkaliga Gamble Did Not Pay Off In Karnataka

One of the last decisions that was taken by the Basavaraj Bommai cabinet in Karnataka was the one to scrap four per cent reservation to Muslims and divide it equally among the Vokkaligas and Lingayats.

The unofficial numbers suggest that the Vokkaligas are 14 per cent in numbers, while the Lingayats make up for 17 per cent of the population in the state of Karnataka.

The BJP has been known to do well in the Lingayat seats and most of these are concentrated in the North Karnataka region. The Congress has however done well in this region, signalling that the Lingayats have voted better for the party. The Congress had impressive wins in the seven districts of North Karnataka and this is considered as a major setback for the BJP. The BJP had held 40 seats in this region, which has 56 seats. However the party at the time of writing this copy was trailing in most seats in the North Karnataka region.

Belagavi, Uttar Kannada, Haveri, Gadag, Vijayapura, Bagalokot, and Dharwad are dominated by the Lingayats who have been the traditional supporters of the BJP. This time however they seemed to have supported the Congress. It could well have to do with the fact that B S Yediyurappa decided to announce his retirement from politics.

The BJP's push for the Vokkaliga votes too did not appear to pay off. There was a big push made by the party to woo the Vokkaligas who are dominant in the Old Mysuru Region.

However that gamble too did not pay off and the Congress is expected to win more than 30 seats in this region which has around 60 sweats. This could do with the fact that the Vokkaligas wanted to vote for a party which would make a candidate from their community the chief minister. During a large part of the campaign the Congress projected D K Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga as the probable chief ministerial candidate, if voted to power. However in the case of the BJP it had not projected a Vokkaliga face.