B S Yediyurappa.
Credit: DH File Photo
Former chief minister B S Yediyurappa is said to have played a key role in fielding leader of the Opposition in the Council Kota Srinivas Poojary as the BJP candidate from Udupi-Chikmagalur.
By this move, the Lingayat strongman may have killed two birds with a single stone.
With Poojary getting nominated, the Lingayat leader may have ensured the consolidation of Ediga votes in the adjacent constituencies of Udupi-Chikmagalur and Shimoga, where the former CM’s son B Y Raghavendra is seeking renomination for the fourth time. It also helps cut former minister C T Ravi, Yediyurappa’s bete noire, to size.
Ediga or Deevaru community voters play a significant role in Shimoga constituency.
The community is spread across the constituency with major concentration in Byndoor, Sagar, Hosanagar, Sorab taluks and some parts of Thirthahalli taluk.
The Congress is fielding former chief minister S Bangarappa’s daughter Geetha Shivarajkumar, who too belongs to the Ediga community.
The Congress has two Ediga community MLAs in the Shimoga Lok Sabha seat - Primary and Secondary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa (Sorab) and Belur Gopalakrishna (Sagar). The BJP has no MLA from that community in the Shimoga Lok Sabha segment.
The BJP’s state leaders were reportedly able to impress upon the central leaders that fielding Poojary from Udupi-Chikmagalur would help get votes of the Edigas in the constituencies of Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada also, where the community has a sizable population.
The state BJP leaders and Udupi-Chikmagalur sitting MP Shobha Karandlaje is said to have complained to the party top brass against Ravi, saying he was instrumental in organising the ‘Go back Shobha’ campaign by party workers in Udupi and Chikkamagaluru.