JD(S) silent fearing backlash from Lingayats

BANGALORE: The fear of inviting the wrath of the Lingayat community is the sole reason for the top JD(S) leaders not welcoming the exit of B S Yeddyurappa following his indictment by the Lokayukta in its final report on illegal mining.“I will not speak to the media for some more time. We are just watching the developments,” Kumaraswamy told Express on Monday. Even former prime minister H D Deve Gowda has not reacted, either to the Lokayukta’s final report or to Yeddyurappa’s exit — a demand which he had been vehemently making for long.The Lingayat community, which once formed the Janata Parivar’s mainstay, has moved towards the BJP following the ill-treatment allegedly meted out by Gowda to late Ramakrisha Hegde. Kumaraswamy’s harakiri by not handing over power to the BJP as per the 20:20-month agreement further angered the Lingayats who voted en masse for the BJP.The repeated allegations made by the father-son duo against Yeddyurappa since the BJP came to power have turned the community completely against the JD(S).“In this background, both Gowda and Kumaraswamy have found it to be prudent to maintain silence,” a top leader explained.However, as it is a political compulsion for a political party to react to immediate developments, JD(S) spokesperson Y S V Datta welcomed Yeddyurappa’s resignation.This is not the first time that Gowda is being looked at with suspicion for the exit of a Lingayat CM. In 1988, this Vokkaliga leader was accused of engineering a crisis in JD government headed by S R Bommai, a top Lingayat leader from Hubli, by propping Kalyan Rao Molakeri, which eventually led to the government’s collapse in February 1989.For the next eight months, the state was under a brief spell of President’s rule with Pendekanti Venkatasubbaiah as Governor.Yeddyurappa’s exit from the hot seat - the indictment by the Lokayukta is essentially on the complaint lodged by Kumaraswamy - has led to crisis in the BJP which has all the potential to lead to the collapse of the government.  This eventuality, in turn, can anger the Lingayat community.