Karnataka Elections 2018 verdict: How Siddaramaiah upset the Lingayats and Vokkaligas

The Karnataka assembly election results announced on Tuesday came as a shock to people and contesting parties alike. Congress secured 78 seats, 44 seats less than it did in 2013, while BJP raced ahead with 104 seats with an addition of 64 seats.

A gaping hole in Congress’ Siddaramaiah-led campaign was its approach to the two most important communities of Karnataka — Lingayats and Vokkaligas. The former makes up to 17 percent of the state and has been loyal to the BJP, while the latter makes up to 15 percent of the state, and is JD(S)’s strong field.

Congress with Lingayats

Two months before the elections, Siddaramaiah and his cabinet decided to give minority religion status to the Lingayat community, hoping to break into BJP’s voter base. It had worked in some pockets of the community, but most of all, it was viewed as a way to divide the state.

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Congress’s attempt could have been seen as something more than divisive politics but it wasn’t, since after the move and a lot of criticism over it, Siddaramaiah never spoke about it again. A Congress leader belonging to the community, on conditions of anonymity, told Economic Times, “The intent was to help the have-nots among the Lingayats to get benefits but this was not communicated and only the political intent of splitting the BJP’s vote bank was seen."

He added that there was no time for the CM to speak about it and explain the merits of the decision that the government had taken. “It affected us in nothing less than 50 constituencies in North Karnataka.”

Siddaramaiah’s move evoked a crisis of identity for the party and when the BJP came in the picture to reassure the public, this move ended up benefitting the BJP and cemented the already strong support it had from the Lingayats.

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Congress with Vokkaligas

The second most important section of people in Karnataka, Vokkaligas are hardcore supporters of Devegowda’s Janata Dal (Secular). Therefore, when during the campaigning, Siddaramaiah called JD(S) a B-team of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), where its S stands for Sangh Pariwar, the entire community was enraged.

Moreover, he then went ahead to contest from Chamundeshwari, which is a Vokkaliga-heavy region, to go against Gowda and Kumaraswamy brought the Congress a loss by 26,042 seats in the constituency.

Vokkaligas have always supported Kumaraswamy, for the consolidation he brings among the people. Even minority sections and backward classes have been pally with him.

“Kumaraswamy is acceptable to other communities as well, such as the Dalits and the Muslims. Siddaramaiah gave huge emphasis to the AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward castes and Dalits) all through five years. But the AHINDA also did not stick with him and instead went to the BJP and the JD(S) in different regions of the state,” a Congress leader belonging to AHINDA, told ET.

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