Congress plays it safe, gives more tickets to key communities

Umar Sharieef | NT

Bengaluru: Congress, which has announced 209 seats out of 224 for the upcoming Assembly election in the State, is playing a safe game by providing more tickets to the two crucial communities in the state – Lingayats and Vokkaligas.

Lingayats secured 47 seats and Vokkaligas 43 in the previous Assembly elections in 2018. The party backed Lingayats in the 2018 assembly election by giving as many as 42 seats. However, this time, the number has increased.

Congress on the safer side?

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source from the Congress told News Trail, “It has been the policy of the Congress party to give importance to Lingayats, the largest caste group that supported Siddaramaiah in 2018 and the party is strong on that front.”

The number of seats for Kurubas, a shepherd community to which former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah belongs, is 12. This number was 18 in the last Assembly election. Even though the community is spread across the State, Vokkaligas are the second largest community, concentrated in the State’s southern part. While the Congress seems to be guarded, the BJP on the other hand, is in a fix as it hasn’t named a single Muslim or Christian candidate in its lists released so far.

The Congress is also on the safer side for another reason—that it attacks the BJP for providing 33 seats to Lingayat communities out of 47 so far instead of seeking a fresh mandate based on its performance over the last five years. Sources added that it is the end of the party albeit if it tries hard.

“There have been incidents among the community that are not happy with the BJP over the allocation of seats in Badami, Bagalkot etc,” added the source. The recent development where a former chief minister and prominent Lingayat leader of the BJP Jagadish Shettar resigned as BJP MLA and quit the party has put Congress on the non-problematic side and BJP in a fix.

He is the second BJP leader to quit the party after Laxman Savadi, a former deputy CM. Meanwhile, the Congress has given 12 seats to Muslims, 3 to Christians, 31 to SC and 16 to ST.