Strong Lingayat connect gave Somanna the edge

Tumkur MP V Somanna’s entry into the Union council of ministers has raised eyebrows in the BJP as he has pipped four other senior Lingayat leaders, including two former chief ministers, for a place in PM Modi’s team.

The BJP has five Lingayat MPs in Karnataka - Somanna, Basavaraj Bommai (Haveri), Jagadish Shettar (Belgaum), B Y Raghavendra (Shimoga) and P C Gaddigoudar (Bagalkot). 

Ostensibly, Somanna’s good rapport with Lingayat mutts worked in his favour. Also this is being seen as the BJP’s move to look beyond its veteran B S Yediyurappa (Raghavendra’s father), when it comes to wooing the Lingayats.

“Yediyurappa had lobbied for Raghavendra and Shettar, that one of them should be considered. But the high command picked Somanna. This is a clear message to state BJP and Yediyurappa and his sons that the party is preparing an alternative leadership in Lingayat community,” said a source.

Some believe that Yediyurappa would have had his way if the BJP had retained the 25 seats it won during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, or came close to that number. However, the BJP won 17 seats. 

Apart from Lingayat factor, the BJP seems to have rewarded Somanna for not violating the party’s diktat. When Somanna lost from two constituencies - Chamarajanagar and Varuna - during the 2023 assembly polls, he publicly fumed at the party’s leadership, including Yediyurappa. At the time, Congress tried to woo Somanna as he was dejected. However, Somanna decided to stay with BJP. 

Sources explained that Somanna got the Lok Sabha ticket with the help of JD(S). Somanna himself went on to claim that the role of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy was “double the effort” of BJP leaders.

At Tumkur, Somanna won by a margin of 1.75 lakh votes against Congress’ S P Muddahanumegowda. For the five-time MLA, this was his first Lok Sabha poll.