Why S M Krishna matters to Karnataka BJP

The BJP is viewing S M Krishna as the Karnataka's Himanta Biswa Sarma

Foreign Minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime and former Congress chief minister of Karnataka S M Krishna has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
 
One member of the Karnataka BJP who was conspicuously absent from the committee to welcome him in the party was B S Yeddyurappa. He was said to be at a meeting elsewhere in the state on the afternoon party President Amit Shah welcomed Krishna in the BJP office in Bengaluru, although it was Yeddyurappa who first announced Krishna would be joining the BJP
 
It is hardly a secret that Krishna had been feeling out of place in the Congress: He was sacked as Union foreign minister, and never consulted once by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on anything. He resigned from the Congress on January 29 this year and said: “Congress doesn’t want leaders these days, they only want managers who can handle a situation.”

 

Besides, being an urbane and courteous politician of the old school, he must have been acutely uncomfortable with Siddaramiah and his ilk. (To illustrate, some months ago, an MLA met the chief minister in his antechamber after a particularly gruelling day in the Assembly. A Kannada newspaper had written something particularly damaging about the government that morning. The MLA brought this to the attention of the chief minister, who heard him, got up slowly, undid his veshti (a dhoti traditionally worn by Tamilians) and said, “They can write about this as well, for all I care.” The MLA quickly left the room.

 
Will Krishna’s joining the party make any difference to the BJP?
 
Two castes — the Vokkaliga and the Lingayat — have been the dominant social groups in Karnataka since the state was created. The tussle for power between these two communities has never been a secret. Karnataka has had five chief ministers from the Vokkaliga community, and six have been Lingayats. Three chief ministers have been from the backward classes while Brahmins have managed to hold the top spot in Karnataka twice. The Vokkaligas, who comprise 15 per cent of the 50 million-odd population of Karnataka, are spread mainly across Bengaluru, Mandya, Hassan, Mysuru, Kolar and Chikmagalur.

 
The Lingayats comprise 17 per cent of the population of Karnataka and are dominant in the central and northern parts of the state. The Dalits comprise 23 per cent of the population, Kurubas eight per cent and the Muslims 10 per cent. The rest of the population comprises Christians and others.
 
The last memorable Lingayat chief minister of Karnataka was Veerendra Patil, when the Congress was in power in the state in the 1980s. Patil, however, suffered a stroke in saddle and was unable to function for several months. Rajiv Gandhi, then prime minister, ordered his replacement. Patil died soon thereafter, his community said, of a broken heart, and the Lingayats promised to avenge the humiliation to the community and their leader. They moved en masse to the BJP. Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat, leveraged this to become one of the BJP’s most important leaders. But the BJP was never really able to get the support of any senior important Vokkaliga leader [Sadananda Gowda, former CM and currently Union minister is a Vokkaliga but from a sub-caste that is not considered significant and from a region (Mangaluru) where the caste is not sizeable].

 
Krishna is a Vokkaliga, who is a familiar face for all Vokkaligas in the state, but especially in the Old Mysore area. He is in competition with H D Deve Gowda, the peasant politician heading Janata Dal (Secular), who rose to become prime minister.
 
The Congress got 28 per cent of the Lingayat votes and 32 per cent of the Vokkaliga votes in the last round of Assembly elections. The next election is due in exactly one year. It cannot afford to lose its standing, but from current indications, is headed for decimation. The BJP aims to win 150 of the 224 Assembly seats in 2018. Krishna is part of this plan.

 
How much the 80-something leader will bring to the table is an open question. The BJP is viewing him as Karnataka’s Himanta Biswa Sarma — the man who knew all the secrets, strengths and weaknesses of the Congress in Assam and brought them to the BJP, thus turning the tables on the Congress in the Northeast. However, Krishna has been out of decisionmaking in the Congress for some time now and his base in the Old Mysore area still needs to be tested.
 
But this much is clear: Krishna’s presence in the BJP is something the Congress could have done without.