The fight for the Vokkaliga vote is picking up steam in the Old Mysore region where the community is seen as the dominant one in electoral politics. This region is going to polls on April 26.
What has brought it into sharp focus is the meeting of all the candidates from NDA (BJP and JD-S) in the 14 constituencies that are going into polls on April 26, along with prominent Vokkaliga leaders, with Adichunchanagiri Mutt seer Nirmalananda Swami on Wednesday.
It kicked up a political slugfest as KPCC chief and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar took a dig at the BJP for bringing down the H.D. Kumaraswamy-led government in 2019, and at Mr. Kumaraswamy (a Vokkaliga) himself for his “anti-mutt stance.” The meeting of JD(S) and BJP leaders with the seer follows the earlier meeting of Congress leaders, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar.
‘Seer is not naive’
“Vokkaligas and Vokkaliga seers are not naïve. They won’t advocate a political party just because they visit them. They are wise and they won’t interfere in politics. The seer is aware of the fact that JD(S) leaders earlier divided the Vokkaliga mutt.... The swamis could have questioned the BJP leaders for bringing down a Vokkaliga Chief Minister but did not. Now the JD(S) leaders are taking to the seers the same leaders who brought down a Vokkaliga Chief Minister,” Mr. Shivakumar told presspersons here.
Lashing out at Mr. Kumaraswamy, he said: “C.P. Yogeshwar, R. Ashok, and C.N. Ashwath Narayan [Vokkaliga leaders of BJP] brought down the Mr. Kumaraswamy-led government, but now he has joined hands with the same people.” Mr. Shivakumar went on to say that the Congress has given ticket to eight Vokkaligas. “Vokkaligas are smart people and they are watching everything. Mr. Kumaraswamy is saying he joined hands with the BJP because of the Congress, but he doesn’t realise that he has sold himself to this alliance. What is worse is that H.D. Deve Gowda has fielded his son-in-law on a BJP ticket. Now, they are embracing the same people who brought him down,” he said.
HDK’s counter
Soon, Mr. Kumarawamy countered Mr. Shivakumar and said he should ask Mr. Siddaramaiah the reason for the collapse of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government after 2019.
Mr. Kumaraswamy alleged that Mr. Siddaramaiah had worked out a strategy for the collapse of the government during his treatment at Shantivana, naturopathy cure centre, in Dharmasthala in 2018. “What happened to the promise of unconditional support for five years to my government?”
Mr. Kumaraswamy said that he had never misused the seer when in power. “Those who speak about secular credentials speak of caste daily. It is the Congress that has tried to use the seer. What is the relationship between politics and religion? People of our community can understand the politics these people are playing.”
The vote matters
The Vokkaliga narrative dominates the Old Mysore region politics, and all the parties are trying to appease the community, which has a decisive say in about 10 constituencies. While the JD(S) is closely connected with Vokkaliga politics, the contours have changed after Mr. Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga from Ramanagar district, became the KPCC president and has been projecting himself as the pan-State Vokkaliga leader, thus challenging the JD(S) leadership. Over the last three years, both Mr. Shivakumar and Mr. Kumaraswamy have been trading barbs as the competition for community leadership has turned intense, especially after Mr. Shivakumar became the Deputy Chief Minister.
