Bombay Karnataka election results 2018: Siddaramaiah’s Lingayat move comes a cropper, community stays behind BJP

Bombay Karnataka election results 2018: A BJP revival in the Bombay Karnataka region means the decision to grant a separate religious status to Lingayats did not bring any tangible political gains to the Congress.

• Written by Abhishek De
• New Delhi | Updated: May 15, 2018 06:17 PM IST
3 min read

Bombay Karnataka election results 2018: The BJP seems to have reversed its fortunes in the Bombay Karnataka region, where it has taken an authoritative lead in 30 seats. (Express photo)

The BJP seems to have reversed its fortunes in the Bombay Karnataka region, where it has won 30 seats, signalling that the Lingayats have stayed true to the saffron party. Congress, which won 31 seats in the region in the 2013 assembly elections owing to the split in votes due to BJP and Yeddyurappa’s KJP contesting separately, was reduced to just 17 seats. The JD(S) had just one seat to show.

In the high profile Badami constituency, a see-saw battle is raging between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and BJP’s B Sreeramulu, a Lok Sabha MP and a close associate of the controversial Reddy brothers. The outgoing CM won by a thin margin of 1,696 votes in the constituency that was always going to be a tough fight for Siddaramaiah considering the region has 50,000 Lingayats – a BJP vote base.

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A BJP revival in the Bombay Karnataka region means the decision to grant a separate religious status to Lingayats did not bring any tangible political gains to the Congress. The northern part of Karnataka also has a substantial Maratha and Nizam presence, and have provided the bulk of the BJP’s success thus far.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is ahead by a thin margin of 2,700 votes in Badami. (File)

First signs of BJP re-gaining the region was when there was a massive turnout in support of a rally held by Yeddyurappa, an influential leader of the Lingayat community, accompanied by UP CM Yogi Adityanath. Among the main constituencies in Bombay Karnataka, Congress is leading in Gadag, while BJP has their noses ahead in Belgaum (Dakshin and Uttar), Bagalkot, Dharwad and Bijapur city.

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Congress’ Verappa Moily opined that the Lingayat factor boomeranged and said the party should not have raised the issue before the polls. “Somewhere we have not managed the caste equations very well. We have really put our hand in the Lingayat fire when it was not needed. As a party, we never used Lingayats as the trump card. Some leaders used it but they should have been advised properly,” he said.