Arching For Bullseye

BJP banks on Modi to hold on to its seats from North Karnataka

- Ajay Sukumaran

LAST October, Karnataka minister D.K. Shivakumar surprised many in the Congress by admitting publicly, in the middle of a bypoll, that his party had erred with the Lingayat minority religion controversy. He said this at a time when the Lingayat versus Veerashaiva debate had ebbed, at least as a political issue. In an interview this March, Eshwar Khandre, Karna taka Pra desh Congress Committee working president and the Congress candidate in Bidar, told Outlook: “It’s a non­issue now.” Not only was his party unwilling to go down that road again, the movement for a minority religion tag had also lost steam after the Kar­nataka assembly polls last year. Khandre, a Lingayat himself, believes issues of religion are best left to religious leaders.