In the village of Varuna, from where the high-profile constituency gets its name, Channappa Basvappa’s afternoon siesta under a banyan tree is interrupted by a passing auto-rickshaw blaring election music fora politicalparty from its speakers. Basvappa curses the driver, but there is another more politically significant reason for his irritation.
“We have voted for both Siddaramaiah and his son, but we still don’t have proper drainage here. Shouldn’t the chief minister’s former constituency be a role model for the state? We voted for him because his village is not far from here, but are sad because he has not done any work for us,” Basvappa said.
With assembly elections less than a week away, the Varuna constituency in Chamarajnagar district is being watched closely. The seat has been a bastion for Siddaramaiah’s family, with the former chief minister winning in 2008 and 2013, and his son Yathindra winning the seat in 2018. And yet, even as the Congress professes confidence in the rest of the state, the announcement of senior BJP leader V Somanna, an influential Lingayat leader, may mean that the aspirant for the state’s top post may have a sticky battle on his hands at home.
In the village, most are guarded about what decision they will take come voting day on May 10, but 31-year-old Shivanna Mahadevappa breaks the silence among one group and says, “Nodi (you see), there is no hiding that for the first time, the Lingayats have a choice. There are several villages like ours that voted for the Congress because we didn’t have any alternative. This time, some (Lingayat) votes could go to Congress and some could go to BJP as well,” he said.
But it won’t be easy to unseat Siddaramaiah in his stronghold.
Wooing the Lingayats
Of the total electorate of 230,00 in the constituency, around 60,000 voters are Lingayats; Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have around 51,000 voters; and 20,000 Kurubas and 15,000 Vokkaligas are the other significant communities.
In fielding Somanna, the BJP has attempted to take away Lingayat voters from the Congress. Senior BJP leaders said that they hoped for a shift of at least 40% of the Lingayat votes to the party, with a particular focus on the constituency — home minister Amit Shah and former chief minister BS Yediyurappa have both campaigned in the constituency.
In an interaction with Lingayats on Thursday, Somanna asked: “Is this how a former chief minister’s constituency should look? The villages here look like no one has paid attention to them. Give me five years to serve you and you can see the development that I will bring to Varuna like I brought to Govindaraj Nagar constituency. When you can give 15 years to former chief minister Siddaramaiah, why can’t you give five years to me?”
Somanna told HT that the Congress had taken the constituency for granted. “We are offering people development. I think voters here are intelligent enough to understand that they have been ignored. They were waiting for a chance and we are offering change,” he said.
Somanna’s campaign has also reached out to other communities that have seen murmurs of dissent against the Siddaramaiah, such as Madegowdana Hundi, which has around 2,000 votes and a large Vokkaliga population. The village has four water tanks to provide drinking water to other villages, and yet, residents say, their own supply has never been robust. “We are openly supporting the BJP here. Most of the Vokkaliga votes would go there,” said Darshan Gowda, a resident of the village.
Siddaramaiah’s stronghold
While that there is a sense of a contest in this election is clear, several villagers, and the Congress, believe that Siddaramaiah’s connection with the constituency, and the fact that he may go on to be chief minister again if the party wins, will take them through. In speeches, Siddaramaiah has said that Varuna is where he was born, and his last election should be from here. In Chikkalli, for instance, also a Lingayat-dominated village, 28-year-old Chandrashekhar’s assertion that he will vote against the Congress is contested by the group of elderly men around him.
“There are concerns and there will be concerns in every place. People here might raise their voices against Siddaramaiah but eventually vote for him because there is a bond. A chief minister coming from our constituency is a matter of pride regardless of our caste lines,” said Shivabasappa Chikkalli.
Jyothi, a homemaker from the village, says she is skeptical about the promises made by the Congress. “But when it comes to voting, we have more trust in Siddaramaiah than Somanna, who is not even from here. Even if Siddaramaiah here is not here, the doctor (Dr Yathindra S, younger son of Siddaramaiah and sitting MLA) is available to us,” she said.
In non-Lingayat areas, Siddaramaiah’s image of an AHINDA (a Kannada acronym that stands for minorities, Backward Classes and Dalits) has meant a loyalty towards him from these communities. In Sidddaramana Hundi, where Kurubas are in substantial numbers, people talk about the wave of prosperity that came after Siddaramaiah’s political rise. “We got uninterrupted power and water supply. We have concrete roads. Even before we ask maintenance work is undertaken. We vote blindly for Siddaramaiah here,” said Sidde Gowda, a local villager.
The party has been continuously campaigning in the consistently to ensure that SC/ST votes stay intact with Congress even as the JD(S) and BSP have fielded Dalit candidates, hoping to split the important vote.
Internal BJP struggles and the Cong future
The BJP has also been hamstrung by simmering tension within. Somanna is fighting from two constituencies, Chamarajnagar and Varuna, and faces some dissension from party leaders that wanted BS Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra to contest the seat. Even as Vijayendra is eventually fighting the elections from his home turf of Shikaripura, there are still quiet conversations within the party cadre over the relationship between Yediyurappa, seen as the BJP’s largest pan Karnataka and Lingayat leader, and Somanna.
Some even point to a video that emerged in march, where a member of Somanna’s family is allegedly taking potshots at Vijayendra, saying that he was touring Karnataka as if he was the chief minister himself. An upset Somanna, who’s son was not given the Varuna ticket, even travelled to Delhi before the BJP lists were announced, but was assuaged after a meeting with Shah, party leaders said.
On the other hand, leading the campaign for Varuna, is the incumbent MLA and Siddaramaiah’s son, Yathindra Siddaramaiah, who often calls himself an “accidental politician”. Yathindra left medicine and joined politics in 2018 after the death of his elder brother Rakesh Siddaramaiah who had largely been seen as the former chief minister’s political heir first. In the 2018 assembly elections, Yathindra fought from the bastion of Varuna and won, while his father contested from Chamundeshwari and lost. With his father now contesting the elections, Yathindra professes confidence in a Congress win, but says he is unclear about his own future.
“Honestly, I have not thought about what is next for me. As of now, I’m the face of the party here and the people will judge the party based on my work. Since the father is busy with the campaign, I’m leading the campaign here. I have worked hard in the last five and that gives us confidence,” he said.
Yathindra also dismisses any caste churn against the family. “We couldn’t have won with a margin of 50,000 votes all communities had not supported us,” he said. “Whether the BJP fields a Lingayat here or Sommana uses his money power, we have the goodwill of people from across communities.”
