Siddaramaiah’s ‘All-caste Encompassing Popularity’: Why Lingayats Want to Back Former CM in Varuna

​ If senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah wants to become the chief minister of Karnataka again, the first step to fulfilling his dream is to win the Varuna constituency in the upcoming assembly elections. But the BJP has decided to make it challenging for him by fielding housing minister and Lingayat leader V Somanna.

Varuna assembly constituency, which is part of Mysuru district has a voter base of around 2.1 lakh of which the Lingayat population is said to be approximately 52,000. The BJP wants Lingayats and Vokkaligas to emerge as the giant killer.

‘Siddaramaiah ensured he did all the works’

In villages with Lingayat population, several Lingayats openly declared their support for the man from Siddaramanahudi, who is a Kuruba.

“Siddaramaiah ensured he did all the works we had asked for, including our temple and halls; our village has a mix of Lingayats, Kurubas and scheduled tribes,” said Linganna, a Lingayat himself.

Between 2008 and 2019, Siddaramaiah and his son (Yatindra Siddaramaiah won the seat in 2018 while Siddaramaiah won in 2008 and 2013) brought grants of over Rs 1800 crore. A substantial part of these grants went into building Basava Bhavans and community halls for Lingayats and other backward castes.

Several old temples used by Lingayats have also been renovated along with other basic infrastructure work. The Muzrai department that manages some of these temples spent around Rs 86 crore during this tenure.

“We wanted concrete roads, piped tap water and street lights. We have asked for some more works, it is sanctioned but is pending because of the code of conduct,” said Shivappa, another Lingayat from Kalikunda village in Varuna.

Siddaramaiah’s close aides attributed his all-caste encompassing popularity in Varuna to his schemes. “He was responsible for changing rules, which allowed even the Lingayat community to get government community halls. His efforts in irrigation and Ganga Kalyan scheme have helped thousands of people grow paddy in Varuna,” said N Ramaiah, former joint secretary to Siddaramaiah, who looked after government scheme implementation in Varuna between 2013 and 2018.

Even votes polled in Varuna indicate growing acceptability of Siddaramaiah by other castes. In the 2008 assembly elections, Siddaramaiah got 71,908 votes; in 2013, it increased to 74,385 votes. At the end of his five-year tenure as chief minister, he fielded his son Yatindra, who got 96,435 votes in the 2018 assembly elections.

The former CM has already declared that he will not be spending too much time in Varuna and has started touring north Karnataka.

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