Bangalore, Aug. 9: Much is in store during a Karnataka trip this weekend by BJP president Amit Shah during which he will meet a Vokkaliga seer in an apparent bid to lure the community that has traditionally supported the Janata Dal (Secular) and the ruling Congress.
In what would be his second visit to the state after taking over as BJP chief three years ago, Shah will call on Nirmalanandanatha Swami, the head seer of the Adichunchanagiri Mutt in the Vokkaliga heartland of Mandya district, on Sunday, the second day of his three-day visit.
The only other religious leader Shah is slated to meet is Sri Sri Ravishankar, a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachch Bharat project. No visit is planned to any of the mutts of the Lingayat community, the BJP's traditional supporters.
State BJP spokesperson S. Prakash said there was nothing unusual about Shah's visit to the Vokkaliga mutt. "He never went to any mutt during his last visit (to Karnataka in August last year). This one was decided in Delhi," Prakash said, indicating the state BJP office had no role to play in the most significant engagement during Shah's upcoming trip aimed at reviving the party's fortunes ahead of the Assembly polls next year.
But a senior Congress leader thought otherwise. "He is definitely trying to get close, or at least create some confusion in the minds of Vokkaligas by visiting the seer. Like it's said, if you can't convince, then confuse," he said, quoting former US President Harry Truman.
The Congress leader suspected the visit had something to do with the recent income tax raids on state energy minister D.K. Shivakumar, a powerful Vokkaliga leader considered close to the mutt. While JDS veteran and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda is still seen as the tallest among the Vokkaliga leaders, his son H.D. Kumaraswamy and S.M. Krishna - who switched from the Congress to the BJP - and Shivakumar are well respected.
Shivakumar was in the eye of a storm recently when he was placed in charge of handling the 44 Congress MLAs flown in from Gujarat to a resort near Bangalore to keep them away from the prying eyes of the BJP ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections in the western state yesterday. The Congress had alleged 'political conspiracy' when the income tax department raided Shivakumar's properties and those of his family and friends.
"Shivakumar is certainly not Deve Gowda (as a Vokkaliga leader). But some sections might be hurt at the raids since they were a full-blooded political conspiracy," said the Congress leader.
One of the most influential seers, Nirmalanandanatha holds sway over the Vokkaliga community, the fourth most populous in the state after the backward classes, Dalits and Lingayats. While the BJP has traditionally depended on Lingayats, more dominant in the northern districts, the ruling Congress appears to have made inroads into the community by backing its demand for a separate religious identity.
The Lingayats held a massive rally last month to press the demand, which was openly supported by chief minister P.C. Siddaramaiah and the Congress. But the BJP, headed by the original Lingayat strongman and former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, termed the whole exercise a Congress plot to divide votes.
Srirama Reddy, the CPM state secretary, felt Shah was out to woo the Vokkaligas to create new vote banks ahead of next year's elections. Yeddyurappa has often spoken about the BJP's aim to win 150 of the 224 seats in the Assembly, a two-thirds majority. "There's no doubt Shah will try to woo the Vokkaligas. But let him not underestimate the seers who meet and welcome anyone who go to them."
"The BJP's prospects have certainly been dented with their traditional supporters Lingayats wanting to sever ties with Hinduism. So they are looking at wooing the Vokkaligas as the Dalits, backward classes and the minorities have always voted against the BJP," Reddy added.
With the Congress openly supporting the Lingayats' demand, the BJP has betrayed worries that a large chunk of its traditional votes could shift to the ruling party.
State water resources minister M.B. Patil, a Lingayat, is a strong advocate for a separate identity for his community. "Lingayat was a free religion until it was identified as a Hindu caste. Our thinkers and scholars will soon take a call to intensify the agitation to win our rightful identity as an independent religion," Patil said today, indicating the Congress would grab the opportunity to split the BJP's single-largest vote bank.
