A YEDI-MADE FORMULA
The BJP picks Yediyurappa loyalist Basavaraj Bommai as its new Karnataka chief minister with an eye on the 2023 state election and the crucial Lingayat vote
Why picking B.S. Bommai as the new Karnataka CM might be a win-win for both the BJP and BSY
Even in his much-anticipated political bow-out, Karnataka BJP strongman B.S. Yediyurappa appears to have had the last laugh. The selection of his loyalist, 61-yearold Basavaraj S. Bommai, as the new chief minister on July 27 indicates that, even in ‘retirement’, Yediyurappa will continue to call the shots in the state and the party’s central leadership can ill-afford to ignore him. As the tallest BJP leader among the Lingayats, Karnataka’s largest community with a 17 per cent representation in the electorate, Yediyurappa remains crucial to the party’s bid to return to power in 2023.
The 78-year-old Yediyurappa is among the select few to have stretched the BJP’s unwritten rule of retiring its leaders at the age of 75. In more proof of Yediyurappa’s enduring clout, his successor, the soft-spoken and low-profile Bommai, was not even a chief ministerial contender at the start of the race. Soon after his appointment, Bommai profusely thanked his ‘guru’ in front of the media and said that he would seek his guidance on all crucial matters.
WHY BOMMAI?
Sources say the race for the chief minister’s post had narrowed down to Union parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi (a Brahmin) and the young Hubli-Dharwad West MLA Arvind Bellad (a Lingayat). The other Lingayat contenders were state ministers Murugesh Nirani and Umesh Katti. “It was Yediyurappa who placed Bommai ahead of them. The BJP had no option but to go with his choice. They will need Yediyurappa as the party’s mascot in the next assembly election,” says Bengaluru-based political historian A. Veerappa.
Bellad, 51, a BJP legislator since 2013, is seen as a youth icon in the party. The alumnus of INSEAD business school in France is considered to have a progressive vision about development and is being groomed by a section of the RSS as the future face of the BJP in Karnataka. Yediyurappa apparently views Bellad as a threat to his youngest son and party vice-president B.Y. Vijayendra, 45, whom he has been preparing for a bigger political role in the state. His elder son, B.Y. Raghavendra, is a Lok Sabha MP.
Bellad, who made several visits to Delhi in the weeks preceding Yediyurappa’s exit, had alleged that his phone was being tapped. “It seems Arvind Bellad lost the CM race not because he lacked the skills or the party’s support but because of obvious factors (Yediyurappa),” says Tumakurubased political commentator B. Manjunath. “It will be interesting to see how Vijayendra’s political career shapes up over the next two years under Bommai.”
Bommai, an engineering graduate, joined the BJP in 2008 after a long stint in the Janata Dal (United) and, sub
sequently, the All India Progressive Janata Dal. His father S.R. Bommai was chief minister (1988-1999) during the Janata Party rule in Karnataka. S.R. Bommai was also one of the founding members of the Janata Dal. Before joining the BJP, Basavaraj Bommai was elected twice to the Karnataka legislative council (1998 and 2004). In 2008, he won his first assembly election from hometown Shiggaon in Haveri district on a BJP ticket. He has been representing the assembly constituency ever since.
CLEAN IMAGE
Bommai neither has a mass following nor oratory skills like Yediyurappa. He is also not seen as someone who is proactive on matters concerning the Lingayat community. Yet, several reasons worked in his favour. Bommai has had a clean image in his two-decades-long public life. As state home minister for the past two years, and handling diverse portfolios in the past, such as water resources, cooperation, law and parliamentary affairs, he is wellversed with governance. Many in the BJP believe he was rewarded with the chief minister’s post for his staunch loyalty—Bommai stuck to the BJP even when Yediyurappa quit in 2012 to launch his own outfit, the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP).
To some, Bommai was a safe bet since making anyone else chief minister could have fuelled more discontent
within the factionalism-hit state BJP. “Everyone in the party is happy. We abide by the party’s choice and will extend full support to the new chief minister,” said Murugesh Nirani, mines and geology minister in the Yediyurappa cabinet and a chief ministerial contender himself.
Observers say the BJP had to find a Lingayat leader to take over from Yediyurappa so as not to upset this critical vote bank. In 1990, when the Congress removed Lingayat chief minister Veerendra Patil to make way for S. Bangarappa, the Lingayats abandoned the party for the BJP. This offered an opportunity to Yediyurappa, who was striving to build the BJP at the grassroots in Karnataka. “With assembly elections just two years away, the BJP was not in a position to experiment. Bommai’s anointment is an opportune moment for him to try and emerge as the next dominant Lingayat leader,” says N. Prakash, a retired professor of political science at Mysore University and an authority on Karnataka’s caste politics.
IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES
The BJP has never retained power in any assembly election in Karnataka and Bommai has the chance to buck the trend. But his plate is full of challenges. Not only has he inherited an administration that poorly handled the second wave of Covid-19, the state is also in the grip of devastating monsoon floods. Bommai needs to mobilise resources to manage both, while keeping in mind Karnataka’s precarious financial health.
The state’s fiscal deficit for 2021-22 is projected at Rs 59,240 crore due to a shortfall in revenue owing to the pandemic. The revenue deficit is estimated at Rs 15,134 crore for the current financial year. Salaries worth Rs 975 crore for the April-June period are due to some 110,000 employees of four state transport corporations. These are now being cleared in tranches. Senior doctors and medical staff in 69 government hospitals were not paid salaries for four months in 2020. The dues were cleared this January. Salary dues of doctors hired on contractual basis in Bengaluru were paid in April.
The government’s revenue flow, from excise, stamps and registration, road tax and other sources, are yet to reach pre-Covid levels. “Bommai is not inheriting an administration that has excelled or has its coffers full. Over the next two years, he will not only be expected to turn around the state but also prepare the BJP to retain power. Both tasks look daunting,” says economist G. Hanumanthaiah, an advisor to the erstwhile Janata Dal (Secular)Congress coalition government.
But the chief minister is exuding confidence. “I did not expect this new responsibility. The state is facing several challenges due to the pandemic. I will take all stakeholders into confidence and run a pro-people administration,” he said.
Bommai’s biggest challenge will be keeping Yediyurappa happy and handling his ambitious son Vijayendra. Yediyurappa has reportedly assured that he will campaign extensively for the BJP in the 2023 election, but that could come with riders, such as promoting Vijayendra and protecting the interests of the 15 former Congress and JD(S) MLAs who had defected to the BJP and helped it form the government in 2019.
Vijayendra had lobbied hard for a ticket during the 2019 assembly election but was denied one. His name figures among the probable candidates every time there is a bypoll in Karnataka. He is now believed to be getting ready to contest in 2023. “Bommai will have to deftly handle Yediyurappa and his family, and that’s going to be far from easy,” says Manjunath.