Did Rahul visit Bruhan Mutt to check-mate BJP’s sway over Lingayats?

Shyam Sundar Vatttam | NT

Bengaluru

The visit of former AICC President Rahul Gandhi to Chitradurga Bruhan Mutt is seen by many in the ruling BJP to checkmate the party which is wholly dependent on the support of the dominant Lingayat community spread across the state.

Fully aware of this, state Congress leaders got Rahul to not only visit Bruhan Mutt on Wednesday but also get ‘Lingadharane’ from the seer Sri Shivamurthy Murugha Swamiji. Among the seers, Sri Shivamurthy Murugha Swamiji is seen as the most liberal who strongly believes in the principles of Buddha, Basava and Dr BR Ambedkar. The mutt has instituted ‘Basavashree’ award which is given on Basava Jayanthi to outstanding personalities. For this reason, Congress leaders might have preferred this mutt for their leader to get ‘Lingadharane’.

The biggest challenge before the Congress is penetrating the heartland of Lingayats to woo them as the community switched its loyalty to the BJP in the late 1980s when Veerendra Patil was removed from the chief minister’s post by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on health grounds. Since then, the community has been rallying behind the BJP thanks to former CM B.S.Yediyurappa who has been championing the cause of the community for long. Efforts made by the Congress to get back the vote bank have not yielded results yet

Now with Yediyurappa slowly withdrawing from active politics, CCongressleaders are trying to win back the confidence of the community in the next 8-10 months.

Already, the BJP is under pressure over the demands of the Panchamasali Lingayat community which wants a quota under the 2A clause. The seer of the community has warned the saffron party that they will be taught a lesson in case the incumbent government fails to meet the demand at the earliest. The seer has a grouse against Yediyurappa who refused to meet him during an indefinite stir staged by the community at Freedom Park in Bengaluru. Now the responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of the incumbent CM to resolve the matter.

Bommai has already constituted a committee and referred the quota issue to the department concerned to give its opinion on reservation for the Panchamasali community. The CM had to take an call on this urgently failing which the community may go against the BJP in the coming ZP/TP and Assembly polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru and JSS Mutt in Mysuru to indirectly convey a message that BJP would always be with the community. Now, Rahul has visited the Bruhan Mutt which is seen as a politically significant move to draw Lingayat support. It remains to be seen how the state BJP and Lingayat icon BS Yediyurappa counter this move to sway the community