Karnataka Elections: How BJP is trying to woo the Vokkaligas

Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his recent visit to Mandya has tasked BJP's Vokkaliga leaders to deliver the goods in the assembly elections.

Bengaluru, Jan 05: A triangular fight appears in the offing in Karnataka's Old Mysuru region, traditionally seen as the stronghold of Congress and JD(S) as the BJP is determined to make inroads in the Vokkaliga belt in the state elections due later this year.

The party has already been working on the ground and reaching out to like-minded people in the run-up to the election.

Setting the ball rolling, Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his recent visit to Mandya has tasked BJP's Vokkaliga leaders from "panchayat to Parliament" to deliver the goods in the assembly elections.

BJP's Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh said the saffron party will win a record number of seats from the region, where it has been working on the ground and engaging in booth-level activities for quite some time.

There are seven Vokkaliga ministers in the Karnataka government, including R Ashoka, C N Ashwath Narayan, K Gopalaiah, K Sudhakar, S T Somashekar, K C Narayana Gowda and Araga Jnanendra.

The BJP has rewarded the community with plum portfolios and also given them a lion's share of cabinet berths, after Lingayats. The community has also been represented at the Centre.

Recently, BJP general secretary CT Ravi said the party has been working on a two-pronged strategy for the Old Mysuru region.

"We have activated our teams on the ground, from page committees to the mandal level, and invited like-minded Vokkaliga leaders from panchayat to Parliament into the party-fold," Ravi, an MLA in the southern state, said.

Both Singh and Ravi asserted that the BJP should not be seen as a community-specific party, saying it believes in "cultural nationalism" and "politics of development".

The BJP has traditionally been seen as a relatively weaker force in the Vokkaliga-dominated Old Mysuru region. There are 59 Assembly seats in the region and the party won only nine of those in the 2018 Assembly polls.

Vokkaligas account for at least 15 per cent of Karnataka's population and are seen as the second-most influential vote bank in the state after the Lingayats.

The region consists of districts such as Mandya, Mysuru, Hassan, Tumakuru, Chamarajanagar, Bengaluru Rural, Kolar and Chikkaballapur.

In the upcoming elections, the BJP is eyeing 130 seats and winning even the magic number of 113.

In the 2018 elections, the BJP managed to win just 10 of the 66 seats in this Vokkaliga dominated bastion who constitute 15 per cent of the state's population. The JD(S) on the other hand won 28 seats and the Congress which had won 25 seats in this region was reduced to 17.

The BJP must win at least 30 seats in the Vokkaliga belt to get majority or will have to depend on another party to form the government.