After the resignation of B S Yediyurappa who served as the Chief Minister of Karnataka for two year, BJP has decided to appoint Basavaraj Bommai, son of former CM of Karnataka Somappa Rayappa Bommai, to the post that was once held by his father. Bommai was the Home Minister under Yediyurappa. BJP has had no qualms against appointing persons from a non-dominant caste as Chief Ministers as seen in Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand. But it does not always work, and is risky play especially in Karnataka. Hence, in order to get around the puzzle, PM Modi and JP Nadda’s pick, Bommai, is a Lingayat – Karanataka’s dominant caste from North Karnataka. With this, the BJP has solved a delicate political equation for the party.
Apart from having a clean image and coming from the dominant caste, the reason behind the appointment of Bommai was probably the fact that he is very close to former CM Yediyurappa, who is credited for the rise of the party in the state. “I’m not sad. I’m happy. I can’t thank in words PM Modi, Amit Shah, and JP Nadda for letting me be the chief minister even though I was over 75 years of age,” Yediyurappa said. “There is no question of political retirement for any reason, I’m with the karyakartas and the people.”
Bommai is a mechanical engineering graduate, and has significant influence over several assembly seats. He is credited with the development of India’s first 100% piped irrigation project at Shiggaon in Haveri district of Karnataka, and is also known for controlling the KG Halli anti-Hindu riots last year. But the most marked factor in his appointment as chief minister is his closeness to Yediyurappa and his strong connection with the Lingayat community.
Lingayats are the most powerful community in the state constituting almost 17 percent of the state’s population and influences over 100 out of the 224 assembly seats. A majority of politicians and chief ministers in the state of Karnataka come from this community. And the community has voted in large numbers for BJP given the popularity of former CM Yediyurappa, who still enjoys the trust of Lingayat seers.
Lingayat seers, who head the community mutts, enjoy considerable influence over the votes of the community. In the 2013 elections, when BJP fought without Yediyurappa who had then formed his own party, the BJP lost badly. Yediyurappa’s party won a few seats but it disturbed BJP’s arithmetic on almost every seat in North Karnataka by cutting Lingayat votes. Then Yediyurappa returned to the BJP and the party became the largest party in the 2018 assembly election but could not form government because Congress and JD(S) came together. Almost thirteen months later, Yediyurappa successfully broke both parties and brought BJP to power in 2019. He was installed as CM but the party central leadership seems to have convinced him to step down given the fact that he is 78 years of age and the party wanted to promote a new face after two years of Yediyurappa as CM, before the BJP goes back to the polls in 2023.
BJP’s early departure from majoritarian politics hurt the party’s fortunes hard in the states like Jharkhand, Haryana, and Maharashtra. Traditional Indian politics reeked of majoritarianism, vote-banks, caste and identities. The BJP, in a noble effort, decided to discard these ‘pillars’ of politics. While it was indeed a commendable and gutsy effort, it was perhaps done too early and voters are not always ready for it.
Non-majoritarianism and ignoring the local leadership’s suggestions on the CM face have certainly cost the BJP Jharkhand, where Raghubar Das was the CM. This is a state where the tribal/non-tribal divide has always influenced elections. And the party has learnt the lesson and installed a Lingayat as CM in Karnataka.