Who will succeed BSY as next Lingayat leader?

BENGALURU: With BJP leadership in Karnataka lacking second-rung leaders with pan-Karnataka appeal from the core vote bank of Lingayats, the race is on as to who will succeed chief minister BS Yediyurappa as the face of the saffron party.
The Shivamogga leader, who has kept BJP within touching distance of absolute power over the last decade in Karnataka, is slowly fading away as central leadership phases out the old guard.
With such being the case, there is a race emerging within the BJP ranks, including Yediyurappa’s own son B Y Vijayendra, to succeed Yediyurappa and emerge as the leader of the Lingayat community in Karnataka.
However, with party central leadership not keen on encouraging “dynastic” rule, it is a distant dream for Vijayendra to even be considered as a serious contender.
“When the central leadership showed its brute force in ensuring that H N Ananth Kumar’s wife Tejaswini does not get the Lok Sabha ticket from Bangalore south, instead making way for a political novice like Tejasvi Surya, it must be understood what are the chances of Vijayendra to succeed his father in politics,” said one BJP party leader.
On Saturday, a front page advertisement in a local Kannada daily was published by Vijayendra’s supporters, and possibly a fringe group, called as the All India Lingayat-Veerashaiva and backward classes association.
The advert basically said that, hailing from a community which has a presence across south Indian states including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Vijayendra should push forward and not look back at “criticisms”.
“With such a vast community, across states, backing you, such small incidents should not come in your way to grow,” read the advertisement.
The advertisement comes in the wake of damning reports that Vijayendra was interfering in the functioning of the government, on the simple premise of him being the son of the CM.
The BJP youth wing general secretary had even issued a two page rejoinder to counter the allegations.
At the other end, the central leadership has decided to test waters with the nomination of Laxman Savadi as the deputy chief minister from the Lingayat community.
Whether he will garner acceptance from the community and emerge as the outside force is yet to be gauged.
Among other contenders who continue to dominate community politics in the party include Basavaraj Bommai, V Somanna, Murgesh Nirani, JC Mdhuswamy and others.