JOIN US Eyeing Assembly elections in Karnataka, scheduled early next year, the Congress on Friday sent feelers to disgruntled BJP leader and Lingayat strongman B S Yeddyurappa saying its doors are always open for the former chief minister.
“Hamare khidki aur darwaze hamesha khule hain, aur jab woh idhar udhar jaayen toh thoda hamari khidki mein jhaank len. (Our doors and windows are always open. I would like to say while moving here and there he (Yeddyurappa) should have a peep into Congress window),” said Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhry clearly indicating that the party was trying to attract the Lingayat leader.
Renuka’s remarks came in response to a question relating to Yeddyurappa praising Congress president Sonia Gandhi and asserting that he would quit BJP if his honour is at stake in the party. Chowdhury's statement hints that Congress is smelling big opportunity in Yeddyurappa’s disenchantment with his party to dislodge BJP in Karnataka, which is in disarray with persistent factionalism.
Yeddyurappa is the most prominent Lingayat leader in Karnataka. Lingayats constitute 17 per cent of Karnataka’s population. Taking advantage of chaos in BJP ranks, especially after the exit of Yeddurappa as chief minister last year, Congress is trying to make inroads in the community. Since BJP came to power in Karnataka in 2008, the party has been forced to change its chief minister thrice.
In an attempt to reconnect with the Lingayats in the State, the Congress president in April this year attended the 105th birthday of Shivakumara swami of Siddaganga mutt, identified with the community. The Lingayats distanced themselves from Congress in 1990, when Veerendra Patil was unceremoniously removed as chief minister in less than a year by the party high command. Patil had earlier served as the chief minister from May 1968 to March 1971.