Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address his first rally, of 15 scheduled over five days, in southern Karnataka, where the party is organizationally weak and has traditionally finished behind the Congress and the JD(S).
Modi will address a rally in Santhemarahalli town of Chamarajanagar district, where the party has never been strong enough to play, as local leaders believe the BJP has the opportunity to make gains in the region. Modi will subsequently address a rally each at Udupi in coastal Karnataka and Chikkodi in north Karnataka on Tuesday.
Southern Karnataka comprises eight seats, including Varuna in Mysuru district, vacated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for his son Yathindra. The Congress swept the region in 2008, while the JD(S) won one of the eight seats in 2013.
With three of these eight seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, besides one for Scheduled Tribes, former Nanjangud MLA V Srinivas Prasad, a key leader from the SC community who left the Congress last year to join the BJP, is anticipated to help the party prevent consolidation of the sizeable Dalit vote in favour of the Congress.
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The BJP is also banking on the support of the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, which has a strong presence in many constituencies of the region. Unlike Lingayats in north Karnataka, who identify themselves as a separate sect and whom the Congress, is trying to woo, Lingayats in south Karnataka tend to identify itself as Veerashaiva Hindus, rather than as a separate religion.
Along with the vacuum in Congress with the death of H C Mahadev Prasad, former MLA and an influential Lingayat leader in the region, the BJP is looking to exploit anger of the Veerashaiva community over the Siddaramaiah government’s move to accord a separate religion status to Lingayats.
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