The confusion among the Veerashiava-Lingayats, especially in Kittur Karnataka region, following the exits of Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi weeks before the elections, is being seen as the precipitating factor for the community’s perceived shift to Congress from BJP.
For the Congress, this election results has been the best since 1989 when it had 45 Veerashaiva-Lingayat legislators in its landslide victory. This time, as many as 34 Veerashaiva-Lingayats have won on Congress ticket. Even when the Congress capitalised on the BJP-KJP split in 2013 to form the government, it had 26 Veershaiva-Lingayats in its ranks. In 2018, following its support to a separate Lingayat movement, the number of Veerashaiva-Lingayats elected on the party ticket had come down to 16.
