Karnataka Lingayat and Veerashaiva Thinkers' forum backs Congress
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New Delhi: In a setback to BJP, the Karnataka Lingayat Mattu Veerashaiva Vichar Vedike (Karnataka Lingayat and Veerashaiva Thinkers’ Forum) has issued an official letter extending its support to the Congress party in the upcoming state assembly elections scheduled to take place on May 10.
The forum has urged all Lingayats to vote for the Congress, according to the news sources.
The letter is signed by the organisation’s president, Krupa Shankar, and secretary, K.V. Nagaraj Murthy.
Both the Congress and the BJP have been trying their best to woo the Lingayat voters in Karnataka.
Karnataka’s biggest Lingayat social organisation is headed by Congress veteran Shamnur Shivsankarappa, the legislator from Davangere. However, the Lingayat community has still voted largely in favour of the BJP since the 1990s.
Several top BJP leaders, including former chief minister Jagdish Shettar, former deputy CM Laxman Savadi, Nehru Olekar, NY Gopalakrishna, all top Lingayat leaders, switched over to the Congress after being denied tickets to contest the May 10 polls.
Currently, the BJP holds 52 seats from these regions, which are considered Lingayat strongholds, while the Congress has 32 seats and the JDS 6.