Patil’s tractor rally aimed at show of strength by upset Lingayats in N-K region

Shyam Sundar Vattam | NT

Upset over the denial of a seat in the state Legislative Council, former Leader of Opposition in the Upper House, S.R. Patil is launching a five-day ‘tractor rally’ from Nargund in Gadag district on April 13 seeking implementation of pending irrigation projects in North Karnataka.

Patil, a prominent Lingayat leader of Bagalkot, is unhappy with the Congress for not giving him the ticket to seek re-election to the Council from the local bodies constituency in December last year. The party had given the ticket to the brother of KPCC Campaign Committee and Babaleshwar MLA, M.B.Patil. Since then, the former MLC has maintained a distance from party activities.

The rally, being held under the banner of ‘Uttara Karnataka Swabhimaani Vedike, has been named ‘Annadaatana Kugu’. Though it looks like an ordinary rally, sources said it is intended to send a strong message to the high command that the powerful Lingayat community is unhappy and feels it has been taken for granted. In fact, a number of Lingayat leaders are indirectly supporting the tractor rally to show the might of the community to the Congress leadership.

After Veerendra Patil in the late 1980s, no Lingayat leader from the Congress has been made CM. The party had made S.M. Krishna, a Vokkaliga, N.Dharam Singh, a Rajput and Siddaramaiah, a Kuruba, CM. Once, a popular Lingayat leader of the Congress, H.K. Patil missed the opportunity to become CM with the party picking Dharam Singh instead of him in 2004. Since then, the Lingayats have switched their loyalty to the BJP which made both B.S.Yediyurappa and Jagadish Shettar CMs. Even incumbent CM Basavaraj Bommai belongs to the Lingayat community.

The tractor rally will start from Nargund, a place known for a farmers ’ uprising during the tenure of the Congress government headed by late Gundu Rao and will culminate at Badangadi village in Bilagi taluk on April 17. Various farmers asociations of North Karnataka, Gutti Basavanna Horata Samiti and Mahadayi Horata Samiti have confirmed their participation in the rally in which around 200 tractors will take part.

Patil seems to have outsmarted KPCC President D.K.Shivakumar who had planned a padayatra in north Karnataka in the next few months to pressurise the state government to complete irrigation projects. It is said that Patil has already held a round of talks with former water resources minister and Gadag MLA, H.K.Patil regarding his plans for the rally. He has been a loyal soldier of the Congress Party but sources say former MLC, C.M. Ibrahim is trying to woo Patil to the Janata Dal (Secular) which has lost its base in the region. There are also reports that the BJP has sent feelers to Patil to ascertain if he is interested in joining the saffron party which will help the party strengthen its base in Bagalkot.

A prominent Lingayat leader of North Karnataka told News Trail that they are forced to hold such rallies to show their strength to the high command. The party has totally neglected the community due to which it fared badly in the 2018 Assembly polls. The Congress cannot afford to ignore the power of the Lingayats and the tractor rally is just a trailer of things to come, he said.