Reddys gamble, Jagan style; BJP revolt is cast in caste arithmetic

The Reddys have sounded the battle bugle. Will the BJP buckle or take the Reddys head on? This is the question that is staring the BJP which prides itself as a party with a difference as the Reddys’ close associate, B Sriramulu, prepares for his Swabhiman Yatra.

The signs of a soft approach are already evident with BJP national leaders trying their best to convince Sriramulu to reconsider his decision to quit.

Speaker KG Bopaiah’s vanishing act on Sunday evening from his Madikeri residence even after knowing that Sriramulu was on his way to meet him means that all options would be explored to defuse the crisis.

Desperate, the BJP will try to restore the party’s image after the severe jolt the Lokayukta report delivered. But the options are limited as the Reddys have begun the battle of nerves to regain their lost political ground in the state.

According to sources, meticulous planning has gone into Sriramulu’s Swabhimana Yatra which would be launched in the next few days if the party leadership failed to accede to their demand for at least two berths in the ministry for the Reddy camp, including one for Sriramulu.

The Reddys hope that the party leadership will blink within two days.

Sriramulu will hit the road with hundreds of his supporters from Karwar to Bidar if the BJP high command failed to change its stand of keeping the Reddys and Sriramulu out of the ministry for being indicted by the Lok Ayukta report. 

He is also likely to climb the Chamundi Hills in Mysore, barefoot, before launching the yatra, praying for its success.

The Reddys have chosen their friend in Andhra Pradesh, YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s method as Sriramulu has asked the party MLAs loyal to the Reddys to stay within BJP as a pressure group while he himself will reach out to people of northern Karnataka to widen the Reddys’ political base.

“I have the support of several BJP MLAs from Bellary, Chitradurga, Koppal and other districts. But I have asked them not to join my campaign,” Sriramulu said even as he announced his resignation to assembly membership.

The Karwar-Bidar route for the yatra covering over 100 assembly constituencies has been finalised with an elaborate plan to consolidate Sriramulu’s sway over the large concentration of Valmiki Nayaka community to which Sriramulu belongs and other Dalit communities.

The campaign to woo the strong Veerashaiva community too would be launched. The game-plan is to project the hard work and resources they put in to make BS Yeddyurappa the Chief Minister after the party failed to get absolute majority in 2008 election and then their intense efforts to coronate another Lingayat leader Jagadish Shettar as Yeddyurappa’s successor to woo the Lingayat community.

With Sriramulu already tasting some success in consolidating his sway over the tribal communities in the region, the Reddys are preparing for a Lingayat-SC-ST caste engineering in northern Karnataka to float a regional party in the long run, and till then use the loyal MLAs as a pressure group within the BJP to maintain their grip over the state government.

JD(S) general secretary Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, a former BJP MP, is expected to join the Reddys in their campaign for cobbling up this new caste combination.

Any decision by BJP to toe a soft-line would further erode its credibility, while a harsh disciplinary action against Sriramulu could bring down the Sadananda Gowda government.

The BJP is expected to choose the middle path by convincing Sriramulu to drop his yatra plans with an assurance of inducting at least one from the Reddy camp, preferably Sriramulu into the ministry in the near future.