Lingayats and Yediyurappa factor back in spotlight in Karnataka politics
The Hindu
While both are interdependent, some say age is not on veteran leader’s side
It was at the end of July 2011 that Lingayat strongman and Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa resigned after occupying the post for a little over three years in his first stint in the post. In less than two years, his newly founded political outfit (KJP) had caused a near rout of the BJP as it garnered about 11% of the vote share, said to be mostly Lingayats, making way for the Congress to return to power. Days shy of a decade of his resignation back then under a cloud of corruption charges, Mr. Yediyurappa is again under pressure from the party’s central leadership to step down and allow a smooth transition even as the is at play again in Karnataka politics. Over the last couple of days, as speculation is rife over the imminent exit of the veteran leader, a and urged him to stay put. The All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha, an organisation with considerable sway over the community and with grassroots presence in 22 districts in the Lingayat heartland, has rallied behind him. In a development that has taken many Congress leaders by surprise and yet again underlined how caste affiliation can cut across partylines, two of its senior Lingayat leaders, nonagenarian Shamanur Shivashankarappa and M.B. Patil, have urged the BJP not to replace Mr. Yediyurappa.More Related News