In industrially backward Mumbai-Karnataka, Mahadayi-Lingayat issues are hot potatoes

In Mumbai-Karnataka, the region of the State that borders Maharashtra, it is a straight contest between the Congress and the BJP.

The six districts of the region — Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Gadag, Haveri, Belagavi and Dharwad — send a total of 51 MLAs to the Vidhana Soudha. In the 2013 elections, the Congress had won 34 seats, the BJP, 16, and the JD(S), 2.

Few parties have raised the real issues of the region — industrial growth (the lack of it), unemployment, and the failure to exploit the area’s tourism potential.

Local residents feel Belagavi has unrealised potential in manufacturing. Hubballi and Dharwad could be developed as centres of growth in IT and ITES, complementing Bengaluru.

“Just like Bengaluru, Belagavi also has an aerospace SEZ and is growing. As Bengaluru is getting saturated, Hubballi-Dharwad can be developed as additional hubs as it has quality manpower,” says Basavaraj Javali, Vice-President, Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (Kassia), and founder of the Belagavi-based Beejay Enterprises, a manufacturer of hydraulic products.

Political shape

Although the BJP has dominated the political landscape in the region, it was hurt by breakaway factions in 2013. The KJP and BSR Congress, led by BS Yeddyurappa and B Sriramulu respectively, have since merged with the parent party.

The Congress, meanwhile, expects to reap dividends from the State government’s huge expenditure on welfare schemes, and investments in irrigation in the Krishna basin.

Mahadayi row

The BJP, in the run-up to the elections, had raked up the emotive issue of the sharing of Mahadayi waters with Goa. It was only recently that Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the issue. Addressing an election rally on the outskirts of Gadag, Modi said that while his government was committed to resolving the inter-State issue through dialogue, the Congress was playing politics on the matter.

“Let me remind you that the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi had said [in 2007] that her party would not allow Mahadayi waters to be diverted to Karnataka. It is because of politics by the Congress that the issue went to the tribunal.”

The water-sharing issue has rocked the region for over a decade. Goa has objections to Karnataka’s attempt to divert 7 tmcft of water to fulfil the drinking water needs of three districts — Belagavi, Dharwad and Gadag.

Reacting to Modi’s attack, Siddaramaiah shot back, asking the PM why he did not convene a meeting of the three riparian States despite repeated letters from the Karnataka government on the issue.

In addition to Karnataka and Goa, Maharashtra is also party to the dispute.

The Lingayat issue

Even though none of the major political parties raised the issue of minority religion status to the Lingayats and Veerashaivas, the Prime Minister, while campaigning for BJP candidates at Vijayapura, hit out at the Congress, while not spelling out his party’s stance on the matter.

“I am here in a land closely associated with Basaveshwara. His philosophy called for taking all sections of society together. Sadly, the Congress government has not followed his principles. All they are bothered about is their votes. This is the land of Basaveshwara, who wanted people to live and work in harmony. The people of this land will never let the Congress divide them on the basis of caste and religion.”

He accused the Congress of plotting to divide the society when “the region was reeling under drought”. “Three ministers,” he said without naming them, “were conspiring in Delhi how to divide the society.”

The various parties campaigning in Karnataka have been silent on the Lingayat issue, which took centre-stage just before the elections were announced.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had, on the basis of the State Minority Commission’s recommendation, approved minority religion status for the Lingayats and the Veerashaivas. It is being seen as an attempt to divide the community, which forms the BJP’s core support base in the State.

The issue is likely to have a major impact in Mumbai-Karnataka, especially in Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Gadag and Dharwad.

Betting on welfarism

The Congress is currently contending with anti-incumbency in a region where the BJP has been the dominant player. But it is hoping that its spending on welfare and irrigation projects will turn the tide in its favour.

“There is no need for me to seek votes on caste lines. I am highlighting the development work I took up, and people are aware of them. But my opponents are trying to rake up the caste issue,” says Irrigation Minister MB Patil, who points to the ₹58,000 crore that the Siddaramaiah government has spent on irrigation works in the region.

Patil, further said that he was not mixing the Lingayat issue with elections. “There is no need for me to seek votes on caste lines. I am highlighting the development work I took up, and people are aware of them.”

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