BJP Is Still BSY

In Karnataka, B.S. Yediyurappa towers over his teammates in the BJP camp. And though he has retired from electoral politics, the party, knowing his mass appeal, has brought him out to placate the Lingayats in a bid to retain power in the assembly and Lok Sabha elections

- Prathima Nandakumar

Wearing a spotless white safari suit and a dot of vermillion on his forehead, B.S. Yediyurappa walked out of the puja room and through the corridor of his Bengaluru home. He glanced at the verandah and the meeting rooms full of people, but headed straight to the cowshed in the backyard to pet the new calf before heading back in.

Come election season, and ‘Cauvery’— the official residence of the former chief minister in the capital—is once again at the centre of all the action. The BJP has pulled Yediyurappa out of a near two-year hiatus to lead its campaign alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Just last month, Modi had walked hand in hand with Yediyurappa after inaugurating the new airport in Shivamogga, the veteran’s home turf, on his 80th birthday. It was a rare spectacle that pointed to Yediyurappa’s relevance in state politics; he is still synonymous with the BJP in Karnataka. The airport, under the Centre’s UDAN scheme, is expected to boost tourism in the Malnad region. Yediyurappa’s return is expected to boost the BJP’s chances in the elections.

On the dais, Modi asked the audience to switch on their phone lights to show their appreciation for Yediyurappa’s contributions to the state. The camaraderie between the two leaders was, as BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted, “An acknowledgement of BSY’s seminal role in opening the gates of south India for the BJP.”

The gesture reasserted the Lingayat strongman’s uncontested stature as a mass leader who, like Modi, is a vote catcher. The old war horse continues to have a stranglehold on the party’s core vote bank, the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, which makes up 17 per cent of the state’s population and holds sway in at least 100 of the 224 assembly seats. It has given Karnataka nine of its 23 chief ministers.