Key Lingayat leader and longtime Sangh man Jagadish Shettar now in Congress

The Hubli region of Mumbai Karnataka, which has a nearly 20% Lingayat population — the dominant caste community to which the Shettar family belongs — has been widely considered to be a fiefdom of the Shettars for many decades.

While Shettar is a six-time MLA from the region, his support is considered crucial for the BJP to win the Dharwad Lok Sabha seat. The current BJP MP from the seat, Pralhad Joshi, a Brahmin, is considered to have relied heavily on Shettar’s clout to win Dharwad since it was created in the pre-Narendra Modi era in 2009.

Shettar’s first electoral victory as a BJP candidate in 1994 from the erstwhile Hubli Rural Assembly seat was also a defeat by a margin of over 15,000 votes for current Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai who was then in the Janata Dal.

Bommai’s 1994 defeat from a seat where his father S R Bommai (a former CM) had been elected thrice between 1978 and 1985 resulted in a period of political obscurity for Bommai. That ended when he joined the BJP in 2008 and won the Shiggaon seat in the neighbouring Haveri region.

One of the roots of the current political crisis in the state BJP over the possible exit of Shettar is widely believed to be an effort by some in the party to wrest control of the region from Shettar. Bommai, Joshi. and central BJP leaders from the state are said to be behind it.

Bommai, who had stayed away from Hubli politics for over two decades on account of the dominance of the Shettar-Joshi duo in the region, has reportedly tried to gain control of the region since becoming the CM in July 2021. Soon after Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared in 2021 that the Assembly polls would be fought under Bommai’s leadership, it triggered alarm bells among Lingayat leaders such as Shettar and the former CM Yediyurappa’s son B Y Vijayendra as they were afraid of losing prominence on account of Bommai’s rise.

During talks held with Shettar over the past few days, by BJP leaders — including Joshi, Bommai, and central observer Dharmendra Pradhan — one of the questions that Shettar raised, according to sources close to the former CM, is the reason behind the BJP seeking his withdrawal from the poll fray.

“They have offered him a Rajya Sabha nomination, a position in the central Cabinet, but he has not accepted these,” said Yediyurappa, who had earlier indicated confidence that Shettar would be given a party ticket.

“There has been no reason provided for seeking my withdrawal. The surveys conducted by the party were in my favour and I have not crossed the age threshold of 70 years set by the party. Then what is the reason to deny me a ticket?” Shettar said at a recent media interaction.

According to BJP sources, one of the reasons Shettar is being denied a ticket is that his brother Pradeep was made an MLC in 2021, with Shettar being informed at the time that he would in all likelihood be dropped for the Assembly polls. He consented to this arrangement, according to these party insiders.

“We have tried our best to convince him to retain him in the party, but it seems that he is not agreeable,” said state BJP chief Nalin Kumar Kateel.

Bommai said on Sunday that the move to ease Shettar out was part of the strategy devised by PM Modi to infuse fresh blood into the state unit. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to bring changes in politics. Our national president and the Union Home Minister had promised a big post in Delhi for Shettar. On Saturday, we informed him that the ticket will be given to anybody suggested by him but he did not agree,” the CM said on Sunday, adding, “Shettar’s resignation from the party will impact the BJP but damage control exercises will be conducted to minimise the impact.” Shettar himself has claimed that his exit from the party will affect the BJP’s prospects in 25 seats in the Mumbai-Karnataka region.

A soft-spoken politician, Shettar has enjoyed good ties with leaders across the political spectrum. He became the CM in 2012-’13 when the BJP needed a Lingayat face following the brief exit of Yediyurappa who formed the Karnataka Janata Party.

According to sources, the Congress is actively trying to reach out to Shettar and bring him into its fold to project itself as being pro-Lingayat and the BJP as anti-Lingayat. Shettar is reportedly weighing options between contesting the 2023 polls as an Independent or on a Congress ticket. He resigned as a BJP MLA on Sunday morning. He was scheduled to hold meetings in Bengaluru late on Sunday evening to decide on his next course of action.

“The political developments of the last few days have caused a lot of grief and I have resigned as an MLA. I will decide on my future course of action after consulting party workers,” Shettar said on his social media account on Sunday evening.

Sources in the Congress party said senior leaders were in touch with the former CM ever since the BJP high command requested the latter to take a step back. The Congress has taken advantage of the situation, with a senior Lingayat leader saying the community is the only vote bank left with the BJP. The Congress has also pointed out that another 67-year-old BJP leader (a Brahmin) had been given a ticket while Shettar was sidelined.

“Lingayats are not treated as the core of BJP but merely a vote bank. Karnataka will witness a massive political churn because of how Lingayats were mistreated by the BJP and specifically two vested common interests (whom he didn’t name). Lingayats are set to return home to the Congress in 2023,” said Congress campaign committee chairperson M B Patil.