Bengaluru: Post the Congress debacle in the Lok Sabha poll in the state, the knives are out as the party searches for a reason for its dismal showing in the election. And the most obvious target for a sizeable section of Congress leaders seems to be former Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah. Once seen as a unifier of backward classes under his shortlived AHINDA movement, he is now being called a " divider of castes."
Some in the party strongly believe that his government's decisions to support a separate religion tag for the Lingayats sans the Veerashaivas, rake up the internal reservation issue among Dalits and push for a caste census in the state may have boomeranged on the Congress these Lok Sabha elections.
"For example, in Solapur constituency, former Union minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, lost to a Veerashaiva seer of the BJP. This decision had an impact in Telangana too. Wherever Lingayats are present, the separate religion issue has had a domino effect," said one Congress leader.
"The Lok Sabha results in North Karnataka, where our best candidates have lost by huge margins, indicate that Lingayats and backward classes other than Kurubas and Dalits have strongly rallied behind the BJP. And our party's loss in reserved constituencies, indicate that a considerable chunk of backward classes and Dalits are moving away from us in addition to the upper castes," he contended.
Recalling that the party was able to hold on to five of the seven reserved seats in 2014 despite the Modi wave, he regretted that this time it had not won from even one reserved constituency. "The major reason is that most of these reserved seats have a large chunk of Lingayat voters, who have backed the BJP this time. The Chamarajnagar constituency in old Mysuru region is a case in point. Although the defeat is being blamed on the BSP candidate, in reality, it is the Lingayats who did not vote," the Congress leader maintained.
