Hegde’s Induction: Has BJP Miscalculated by Ignoring Lingayats?

Did BJP make a mistake by inducting Ananthkumar Hegde into the Cabinet ahead of the Assembly elections?

The Karnataka wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in shock after the Cabinet reshuffle on 3 September. The induction of a dark horse from coastal Karnataka, Ananthkumar Hegde, a Brahmin, has upset the strong Lingayat community within the BJP ranks and also outside.

“Are Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah not aware that this would send a wrong signal to the Lingayats and other castes especially since we are going to face elections in about six months?” asks an anguished state BJP leader who doesn’t want to be named for obvious reasons.

Also Read: PM Modi’s Cabinet Reshuffle Belies Expectations

Nothing for Lingayats and Vokkaligas

Hegde’s induction into the ministry has defied the caste and political calculations of his party rank and file in the poll-bound state. The strong Lingayat community has remained unrepresented in the Modi ministry after GM Siddeshwara was eased out of the ministry last year.

The names of Suresh Angadi, Prabhakar Kore, and Shivakumar Udasi were doing the rounds as the probable candidates for induction under the Lingayat quota.

The top leadership of the party in Karnataka, including its chief BS Yeddyurappa, expected one berth for the Lingayat community, which forms the core of its vote-bank.

Shah, during his recent visit to the state, had met several Lingayat leaders and mutt seers who hold a strong sway over the voters.

Another major community, the Vokkaligas were also expecting another berth for a Vokkaliga leader or a more meaty portfolio for DV Sadananda Gowda, who was sidelined and moved to an insignificant portfolio after his unceremonious removal from the Railway Ministry earlier.

Such a move would have helped the state leaders in wooing these two major communities during the run-up to the polls.

Also Read: Cabinet Reshuffle: Nirmala New Defence Min, Piyush Gets Railways

Hopes From Reshuffle in December

Of course, the state BJP PR managers are trying to do some firefighting by saying that there would be another reshuffle in December wherein Modi would accommodate some from these two communities. However, not many in BJP itself would buy this theory and a sense of disappointment prevails.

Yeddyurappa has expressed confidence that the PM would give an additional representation to Karnataka in his next ministry expansion.

However, it was a festival like atmosphere in Uttara Kannada district after Hegde, a five-time MP, was sworn in. He entered Parliament back in 1996 after defeating Congress stalwart Margaret Alva.

Lobbying by Other MPs

Intense lobbying by MPs Suresh Angadi (Belgaum), Prahlad Joshi (Dharwad) and Nalin Kumar Kateel (Dakshina Kannada) did not help this time.

A clearly hurt Angadi told the media:

Going by my performance in the last many years, my supporters were expecting that I’d be inducted into the Cabinet. I too had hoped that the party would induct me. Naturally, I am disappointed to not have made it.

“I blame our state BJP leaders, who failed to effectively convince the PM to include one or two MPs from North Karnataka into the Cabinet. I lost an opportunity because of a weak state leadership,” he added.

I was not in the race and I had never lobbied for this. But, my supporters in the constituency were expecting that I’d be inducted into the Cabinet.

Prahlad Joshi, Member of Parliament

BJP's Attempt at Polarisation

Hegde had landed in a soup in 2016 when he said:

Islam as an ideology should be eradicated. As long as there is Islam in this world, there’ll be terrorism. Muslims, wherever they are, should follow the laws of the land.

His comments led to Muslim organisations and secular groups demanding his arrest.

The Congress feels his induction is part of the saffron strategy to polarise voters on communal grounds.

In the coastal areas of Uttara Kannada, Udupi, and Dakshina Kannada, the BJP had won only three out of 19 Assembly segments in the 2013 polls.

B Sreeramulu, a former Minister and one from the Bellary mining gang, Bangalore MP PC Mohan, and Yeddyurappa’s favourite Shobha Karandlaje had also figured among the probables.

Hegde started as an ABVP activist and rose through the ranks of the RSS with his impeccable Hindutva credentials. But, he lacks mass appeal and his name is not known in other parts of the State.

Wrong Message?

Hegde was also in the news in January this year when he bashed two government doctors who did not attend to his mother on priority. CCTV footage from TSS Hospital in Sirsi town shows Hegde, who practices Taekwondo, slapping a doctor.

Hegde’s mother had been admitted to the hospital after a fall and he was upset the doctors were not giving her enough attention.

Hegde stormed into the hospital at dawn and asked the doctors to attend to his mother. They allegedly gave an impolite reply. The MP then dragged Dr GV Madhukeshwar out of the ward and thrashed and kicked him. When Dr Balachandra Bhat and an employee, Rahul Musharkar, tried to save Madhukeshwar, the MP assaulted them as well. They suffered injuries and deep cuts on the throat, head, and face.

When the doctors tried to file a police complaint, the MP allegedly threatened them with a counter-complaint. Later, the hospital administration and the MP arrived at a compromise.

It evoked strong reaction from the public and one of the comments said , “Is he an MP or a rowdy?”

“By picking Hegde, the BJP central leadership seems to have sent a strong message that the state leaders have to fall in line with it’s decisions,” a former BJP Minister said with tone of resignation.

Also Read: Modi’s Cabinet Reshuffle is More About Politics than Performance

(The writer is a senior Bengaluru-based journalist and columnist. He is also a visiting professor at a number of colleges and universities.)

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