In yet another attempt to woo Lingayat voters in the State, the Congress on Thursday held a massive public function to anoint S.R. Patil as working president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee at Kudalasangama in Bagalkot district, an important pilgrim centre for the Lingayats.
The event is being seen as a calculated move by the Siddaramaiah government to highlight what Congress has done for the community.
While AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah used the podium to highlight the Congress party’s achievements in State and to highlight the farm loan waiver announced recently, there were subtle yet unmissable efforts to highlight the elevation of Mr. Patil, a Lingayat leader, as head of KPCC.
Political observers feel that scheduling the event at Kudalasangama was in tune with the Chief Minister’s earlier announcement on having portraits of the 12th century social reformer Basavanna (also referred to as Basaveshwara) installed in government offices, in a bid to reach out to the numerical majority Lingayat sect in the State. Mr. Siddaramaiah’s latest support to the demand for status of a separate religion for the Lingayat community explains his new strategy. Although a majority of BJP leaders and Sangh Parivar are opposed to such a demand, they have not said anything yet for fear of losing the support of a large chunk of the numerical majority community in the State. Although Mr. Siddaramaiah’s core electoral constituency does not include the Lingayats, the announcement on Basavanna’s portrait in an election year points to his aim of going beyond the ‘AHINDA’ electorate, while his opponent and former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa is doing the opposite: looking beyond the Lingayats and reaching out to backward classes. With a Lingayat leader as party chief and the venue being synonymous with Basavanna, Congress leaders had ample ammunition to fire at Mr. Yeddyurappa, BJP’s Lingayat leader, on Thursday. They used the opportunity to the fullest by targeting him more than the Prime Minister on the issue of farm loan waiver.
