BJP eyes Lingayat resentment

NEW DELHI: With Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala inviting BS Yeddyurappa to take oath as chief minister, BJP is looking for support from Lingayat MLAs in rival camps who could be unhappy at the Congress-JD(S) alliance that seeks to catapult HD Kumaraswamy, a Vokkaliga, as CM.
There are about a dozen Lingayat MLAs in Congress and JD(S) who could rally around to backing Yeddyurappa, considered the tallest politician from the community.The community supported BJP, largely rejecting Congress’s move to offer religious minority status to Lingayats, choosing instead to back their leader for the CM post. Lingayats remember Kumaraswamy’s refusal to relinquish the CM’s chair in 2007 and honour a tenure sharing deal with BJP.
The party is also looking at three-four other MLAs to garner the numbers to form the government and this would mean legislators who have been wooed to switch sides could be asked to vote in favour of BSY in a trust vote.