Bengaluru: Buoyed by the party's victory in the Assembly bypolls in KR Pete in Mandya and in Chikkaballapur, both part of Old Mysuru, the BJP is not leaving any opportunity to woo the Vokkaligas, the dominant community in the region. A day after the counting of votes, B.Y. Vijayendra, son of Chief Minister, B.S. Yediyurappa went to meet Adichunchanagiri Matha seer Sri Nirmalananda Swamiji on Tuesday. His father Mr Yediyurappa is expected to visit the matha in Nagamangala taluk on Thursday to attend a function at the medical college that belongs to the matha.
Sources in the BJP said that Mr Yediyurappa and his strategists are leaving no stone unturned to woo Vokkaligas so that the party can strengthen itself in south Karnataka. For one, his cabinet once expanded with several strong Vokkaliga leaders from different regions, can no longer be dubbed a pro-Lingayat cabinet.
It was in the Mandya Lok Sabha elections in May this year that for the first time, a large number of young Vokkaliga voters were heard saying that they would vote for Independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh and prefer Narendra Modi for prime minister. This indicated a shift in the thinking of youngsters of the community which has been reinforced with the results of the KR Pete byelection.
