Firoz.T.Totanawala The Bangalore Metro Reporter THE LKG CLASS IN BJP BJP PLAYS CASTE CARDS. WILL IT CLICK FOR THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS

By Firoz.T.Totanawala

The Bangalore Metro Reporter

THE LKG CLASS IN BJP 

 BJP PLAYS CASTE CARDS. WILL IT CLICK FOR THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS 

 The Jagadish Shettar government is based on the new found LKG - Lingayath, Kurubas and Gowda - formula. The CM post has gone to lingayaths and two posts of Deputy CMs have gone to Kuruba and Gowda communities. The LKG formula had already invited the wrath among the other communities especially dalits and OBCs. The dalits who are the main say in the BJP’s strength in the Assembly have been completely ignored. The OBCs too have been ignored. The combination of three major communities will have disastrous consequences to the BJP government.... 

After the removal of D.V.Sadananda Gowda as the Chief Minister, the Vokkaligas, the second largest community, took to the streets protesting the unjust removal of a Vokkaliga CM. The BJP’s National President made it clear that Sadananda was replaced so that BJP could lead the election campaign with a lingayath at the helm. There are no other reasons for removal of Sadananda except the blackmail of Yedurappa who had threatened to form his own party after pulling down the Sadananda government. 

 Arguably, when Sadananda became the CM eleven months ago, the Vokkaligas were not enthused and there were no celebrations of a Vokkaliga becoming the CM. But now, all of a sudden, the Vokkaligas have targeted the lingayaths for toppling a Vokkaliga CM. Sadananda has become a symbol of Vokkaliga pride particularly after his address to a Vokkaliga Conference, where he admitted his pride being a Vokkaliga and promising to bring a good name to the Vokkaliga community through honest and good governance. 

 When the BJP High Command asked Sadananda to resign, it never imagined the fierce protest by the Vokkaligas. The Vokkaligas under the banner of Vokkaligara Sangha erupted in protest only after the observers landed in city to make the way for Jagadish Shettar to become the CM. There were reports of the Vokkaliga MLAs in BJP resigning their membership to protest Sadananda’s removal. At the protest rally, three BJP MLAs threatened to resign if Sadananda was removed. 

 The observers were shocked and surprised at the Vokkaliga protest and were not in a position to sustain the government in case the Vokkaliga MLAs resigned. At one point of time, the controversy became a battle of supremacy between lingayaths and Vokkaligas. 

 Amidst this fight between Vokkaliga and lingayaths, the third largest community Kuruba also staked its claims to the slices of power. The BJP State President K.S.Eswarappa is the party’s Kuruba face. They too wanted their presence to be felt. In fact, the Vokkaligas had even demanded nominating a dalit to the CM, but nobody took them seriously. The BJP high command had already announced Jagadish Shettar as the CM and there was no going back on the declaration. 

 Finally, the observers opted for a caste combination to resolve the crisis and to get maximum support in the next elections which can be held anytime in the next six months. They devised a formula to share the power among the three major communities that is Lingayaths, Kurubas and Gowda. They created two Dy. CM posts and appointed R.Ashoka, a Vokkaliga and K.S.Eswarappa, a Kuruba to the posts. With Jagadish Shettar as the CM, the LKG formula was firmly cemented, as for now. 

 Can this LKG formula win votes for BJP? At the maximum, the LKG occupants may enjoy the CM and Dy. CM posts for some time and there ends the matter. It is another matter that the BJP has a policy of not appointing Dy. CM in states but only in case of coalitions. But this time, it violated its own policy to save its governments. 

 But what about the Minorities and BCs? The minorities in the state form about 10% and the dalits and the OBCs are almost 50% of the state population. This implies that the BJP is bent on three major communities - LKG. In fact, the BJP got into power with the dalits voting massively to the BJP and it has the highest number of dalit MLAs. It is the social engineering of clubbing lingayaths and dalits that produced the winning combination for the BJP in the 2008 elections. In fact, there was a strong demand by the dalits to make Govind Karjol as the Dy. CM. 

 Already the dalit MLAs are protesting their total slighting by the BJP in its LKG formula of sharing power. Few MLAs have sat on dharana. By opting to LKG formula, the BJP has antagonised the major chunk of the population – Minorities, Dalits and OBCs which form 60% of the population. In the long run, the BJP is set to lose as it cannot win by the support of a single community. If a political party wants to come to power, it should have a proper combination of all communities apart from clean image. 

 The BJP’s LKG formula is sure to collapse. Jagadish Shettar, who is supposed to represent the lingayath segment of the formula, will not grow as a lingayath leader because of the overbearing presence of Yedurappa. For Vokkaligas, nobody can usurp the dominant position of HD Deve Gowda and for Kurubas, it is one and only Siddaramaiah. As such the leadership of L, K and G have gone to different parties and people. 

 The elections cannot be won only on the LKG formula. Unless the BJP opts for a better practical formula it cannot hope to win the elections. To top it all, BJP which is drenched in corruption, scams, scandals etc. will be lucky if it comes back to power. 

That is all.