As BJP mobilises to topple Siddaramaiah, son Yathindra takes the lead to take him across finish line

While all three consecutive wins for the Congress — two for Siddaramaiah and one for his younger son Yathindra in 2018 — were cakewalks, some locals said the Congress heavyweight who is in the fray this time would not find it easy as the BJP had fielded state minister V Somanna who is from the dominant Lingayat community. The constituency has more than 2.3 lakh voters, with Lingayats comprising the majority.

Though conversations with voters brought to the fore the sympathy that exists for Siddaramaiah despite several persistent problems in the area, most voters said it would not be easy for Siddaramaiah as a lot of BJP leaders were actively campaigning in the constituency, hoping to bring him down. The BJP strategy of fielding Somanna, caste equations, and loyalties are hot topics of debate at village gatherings across the Assembly seat these days.

Varuna houses the Suttur mutt, where the Lingayat pontiff resides. While issues such as water supply through canals to agricultural lands, bad roads, unemployment and price rise are being discussed here, the significance of Siddaramaiah as a potential CM, and possibly fighting for the last time is palpable. At several places in the constituency, one could hear “Mundina Mukyamantri Siddaramaiah avarige, Jai (hail to the next chief minister Siddaramaiah)”.

The voter turnout in the constituency has consistently been more than 75% in previous elections, forcing contestants to campaign across the segment, instead of strategically leaving out some parts. But Siddaramaiah has already announced that he will not campaign in the constituency for long since he will be required across the state and will instead leave it to Yathindra to get him over the line. Congress public events in two villages that The Indian Express attended had a sizable crowd.

The constituency has 40% Lingayat voters and 20% Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Kurubas, who are categorised as an Other Backward Class (OBCs). Given that Lingayats are traditional BJP voters, the outcome may hinge on which way the SC vote swings. At the predominantly Scheduled Caste village of Alaganchipura, Yathindra personally visited several houses over four hours after local leaders insisted, saying, “Sir, there are 500 votes and if you don’t visit and talk to them, we may miss it.”

A source close to Somanna said that besides veteran Dalit BJP leader V Srinivas Prasad, a former Union Minister’s grandson who is from the area and has a grassroots network among local Lingayats is helping Somanna in his campaign. As Yathidra made the rounds of villages in Varuna, Somanna was in Thagadur village, which has both SC and Lingayat voters. He received a grand welcome and attended a three-km roadshow. Though new to the constituency, Somanna believes people are with him, especially with the support of BJP leaders like B S Yediyurappa who is scheduled to campaign for him on May 4.

His campaign style was not very different from Yathindra’s. Surrounded by local leaders, he visited houses and spent more than four hours in the village. Somanna explained that he was trying to fulfil the task given to him by the BJP high command. “Amit Shah told me to contest from Varuna and I accepted it,” said the minister, who failed to get the ticket from Govindarajanagar that he had won in 2018. Besides Varuna, he is also in the fray from Chamarajanagar.

A BJP worker said the party made a good move by fielding the strong Lingayat leader, but added that it could have also considered Kapu Siddalingaswamy who has been working in the constituency for more than a decade. “He got 54,744 votes, which no BJP leader managed to get from Varuna. His support to Somanna will matter a lot.”

What could work for the Congress is its network of booth-level workers. Opponents said Yathindra had utilised this cadre base to maintain his hold on the constituency and would depend on it to see his father through. A BJP worker said, “No doubt he has a good network and has been active in the constituency. But the problem is that he has used strongarm tactics to silence opponents several times. This may come back to hurt him in this election.”

Siddaramaiah initially had plans to field his elder son Rakesh from Varuna in 2018 but Rakesh died in 2016. This forced the former CM to bring in Yathindra, a doctor who hung up his coat and stethoscope to take up politics. Yathindra won by a big margin but this time he had to sacrifice the seat for his father as the Congress high command insisted that the heavyweight return to his home turf and refused to give him the ticket from Kolar. Asked if his father having to contest based on his performance made the situation strange, Yathindra laughed and said one should count the work his father had done as CM and in previous terms as the MLA from Varuna.