The quota conundrum in Karnataka poses threat to Yediyurappa's legacy

BENGALURU, 11 Feb 2021 [Fik/News Sources]: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa faces an uncomfortable position in his fourth term even after accommodating all the ‘rebel’ MLAs in his cabinet. More than one of his cabinet colleagues have taken part in movements led by seers from their respective communities demanding a hike in reservation, or creation of community welfare board/corporations.

Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi and Social Welfare Minister B Sriramulu on Tuesday took part in Valmiki Jatre in Davangere where community leaders sought a hike in reservation from 3.5% to 7.5% under the ST quota. Rural Development Minister KS Eshwarappa is leading the movement demanding the Schedule Tribe tag for the Kuruba community on the other hand. However the most significant is the demand by the Panchamasali community.

‘Bid to isolate Yediyurappa in his own community’
While it may be for the first time that a CM has to witness so many of his ministers taking part in demonstrations pegged against his own government, none of them is as politically significant as the demand for getting the 2A reservation status for the Panchamasali community as against the present 3B category. This movement has the support of ministers from the community like Murugesh Nirani, CC Patil and the CM’s harshest critic Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, the MLA from Vijayapura.

Panchamsalis are a Lingayat sub-sect and Yediyurappa (belonging to Banajiga sub-sect) enjoys the status of being the tallest leader of the entire Lingayat community.

Mahadev Prakash, senior political analyst, explained, “This demand for 2A status is not based on logic but purely to isolate Yediyurappa politically among the Lingayat community. If he agrees then also it’s a loss for him and if he does not, then also he loses. Either way, the community leaders will now say Yediyurappa gave us the reservation based on our protests or he did not give us even after our protests.”

Prakash, who was until recently his media advisor, opined that the present 5% quota which they get under 3B category will be more than what they will get under 2A category as the 15% quota will be again subdivided by 101 castes--which will ultimately mean that they will get 2-3%.

While there does not seem to be any immediate threat to his position as Chief Minister for the present term as endorsed by the party’s central leadership, this crisis puts a severe dent on his decades’ long legacy as the undisputed number one in state BJP without a distant second. 

Sandeep Shastri, a veteran political analyst, says, “Be it this term as the Chief Minister or in 2008, BS Yediyurappa has had to get MLAs from the other side to be in power. Further, there was always this power dynamic between leaders of his own party. So this competitive demand of caste groups for certain benefits is the representation of the power struggle going on with the party. This has been a feature both in his government of 2008 and 2019.”

He adds, “While this is nothing new or unexpected, in the last one year, the political robustness seen in him over the years is missing.”

Prakash says a dent in Yediyurappa’s image as a tall leader also means speed breaks for the political career of his sons. Raghavendra is already an MP installed by Yediyurappa himself and Vijayendra has also seen himself grow as an adept political strategist even though his electoral debut in the 2018 Assembly elections was stalled by the party high command.  Both Shastri and Prakash opined that the central leadership wants to change the leadership in Karnataka and they tacitly encourage all these rifts to frustrate him and slowly tire him out. 

“They are hoping that the constant pinpricks that he is being subjected to will lead to the political fatigue further setting in and then he ultimately goes to the bargaining table. I think there is no doubt that the BJP central leadership is a tough bargainer in these issues. But they are also cautious of not pushing him too much as in the past it has been seen that pushing him back has seen him to rebel which is again undesirable for them,” Shastri observed.

Prakash explained that this demand for 2A status is more for political capital of the community than anything else stating that even though 65% of all Lingayats are Panchamsalis, there has been no Panchamasali CM as of now. “On the other hand, seven out of eight Lingayat CMs are Banajiga and one has been from Sadar community,” he added.

He further claimed that Yediyurappa himself is to be partially blamed for this present crisis as he opened the “pandora’s box” when he conceded to demands and formed the Lingayat Development Corporation. “Lingayats are majorly affluent and are not backward socio-economically. He had created the board to further consolidate his position as the community leader but that has backfired. Now for this, he has to see the demand for boards for Reddys, Brahmhins, Vokkaligas and other well to do communities,” he said.