Now, BJP looks to BSY to fight Cong

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Bengaluru

With the hugely successful birthday bash of Congress leader and former CM Siddaramaiah which reportedly had an attendence of around 8 lakh supporters in Davangere, sending jitters through the ruling BJP camp, the saffron party is likely to seek the services of ‘sidedelined’ leader B.S.Yediyurappa to counter the resurgent Congress ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls.

A sea of people from every nook and corner of the State attended the birthday celebration of Siddaramaiah. In fact, the organisers had expected a five lakh strong audience but three lakh more people attended.

This has left BJP leaders dumbstruck and even left Delhi leaders worried. Party leaders are now rushing to ‘Davalagiri,’ Yediyurappa’s residence to seek the help of ‘Raja Huli’ to help the BJP retain power in the State. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to be aware of the sway Yediyurappa wields on the Lingayats and had reportedly sent a message in advance asking Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to make sure Yediyurappa was present when he arrived at Yelahanka Airbase on June 20, 2022.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah too wanted Yediyurappa to be present at the hotel where he had a discussion with state BJP bigwigs on the impact of Siddaramaiah’s birthday bash on the BJP. Shah and the former CM spoke to each other for almost 20 minutes.

While Yediyurappa is the undisputed leader of the Lingayats, Siddaramaiah is the tallest leader of the backward classes and former PM Deve Gowda is the face of the Vokkaligas.

The advantage the BJP enjoys is that barring a few constituencies, a majority of the Assembly segments have a good number of Lingayat voters who will heed Yediyurappa’s appeal. Almost all Lingayat/ Veerashaiva mutts will also rally behind him. So the 2023 polls are likey to see Yediyurappa don the role of Lord Krishna to advise his shishya and Chief Minister Basavaraja Bommai on how to win the battle.

“Without Yediyurappa, the BJP is zero. We cannot think of going to polls in his absence,” a senior leader frankly admitted.