A change in caste arithmetic is the Congress’ gamble as it seeks to break into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s fortress in Davangere Lok Sabha constituency. After 23 years, the Congress has nominated a Kuruba candidate in a constituency where Lingayat politics has been in the forefront.
Since 1998, the electoral battle for the heart of Karnataka was between families of Congress’s Shamanur Shivashankarappa and the BJP’s incumbent MP and former Union Minister G.M. Siddeshwar. Both the families are influential Veerashaiva-Lingayat leaders.
This year too, it seemed like the pattern would continue. Mr. Shivashankarappa was announced as the candidate by March-end, but he rejected ticket a few days later. The Congress refused to renominate his son S.S. Mallikarjun, who has lost thrice in the parliamentary polls since 2004 and even in the recent Assembly elections. Eventually, former Zilla Panchayat president H.B. Manjappa, a Kuruba leader from Honnali whose candidature was proposed by the Shamanur family, was selected.
In some ways, the educational hub has seen low-key campaigning from national players. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in nearby Chitradurga constituency has galvanised workers here, for the Congress, the lone rally of note was from former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, whose visit on Saturday was aimed at consolidating AHINDA (Minorities, Backward Classes and Dalit) votes.
“It is after more than two decades that a Backward Classes leader has been given a chance. The AHINDA community has been mobilised in support, and so has the local farmers’ group (Raitha sangha). The anger over the Lingayat religion tag has subsided drastically and many from the community support us,” says Mr. Manjappa.
The Lingayat backlash could perhaps be seen in the 2018 Assembly election results. The Congress’ tally was reduced from seven Assembly segments in 2013 to just two in Davangere constituency, while the BJP’s has risen from none to six now.
“There is some anti-incumbency against Mr. Siddeshwar. Even as the Union Minister, there is little that he has done here. But, we can’t think of voting for the Congress after what they did. No one here wanted a separate religion, and we see it as a way to divide the community for political gain,” says Praveen H.G., a farmer from Nerlige village near Davangere.
Sirigere Mutt, which has influence over Sadar Lingayats that are believed to lean towards the BJP, has remained silent on the issue. However, a worrying sign for the Congress is the sudden silence from the Murugha Mutt in Chitradurga, which has followers in Davangere too. In 2018, the mutt was outspoken and Congress’ campaign received a morale booster when seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru even advocated a separate Lingayat religion even when BJP president Amit Shah visited the seer. Now, the mutt refuses to comment on the issue. “We will continue our campaign for a separate religion through other means. But, we will remain silent in the political arena,” said a mutt functionary.
‘Unknown face’
The BJP’s strategy remains centred around the Modi image, the Lingayat anger, and the “unequal” competition between the political veteran, Mr. Siddeshwar, and the relatively unknown Mr. Manjappa. “Mr. Mallikarjun would’ve been a tough fight. He’s a known face at least,” said a BJP worker.
At Davangere, Kariappar, a Congress voter, believes the party has missed an opportunity. “Mr. Mallikarjun would have won this time. He did a lot of work to bring irrigation to villages here. There was some sympathy wave for having lost the parliamentary and Assembly elections. No one here knows about Mr. Manjappa,” he says.
JD(S)’ support
What can help the Congress is the enthusiasm from the Janata Dal (Secular) leaders. Though the party got less than 5% of votes in the 2014 and 2009 polls, they did poll 1.4 lakh votes in the 2018 Assembly elections. “The coalition dharma is strong here and we have been working for the Congress relentlessly,” says H.S. Shivashankar, JD(S) leader.
