Shivamogga: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s strategies for Shivamogga and adjoining Shikaripura ahead of the May 10 Karnataka assembly polls are a study in contrast. One an urban constituency and the latter a predominantly rural belt, the neighbouring assembly seats have been helmed by two of the biggest leaders of the saffron party. Shikaripura has remained a bastion of the tall Lingayat leader and former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa, whereas the Shivamogga town has been held by senior leader K.S. Eshwarappa for years. Yet, their leaderships in their respective strongholds reflect two different dimensions of the state BJP unit and the internal tussle brewing in the saffron family. Both the leaders have also exited the electoral stage and will not be contesting in this year’s election. Shikaripura, a sparsely-populated town surrounded by hills, shot into the limelight because of Yediyurappa – who held the assembly seat eight times since 1983. The town has a substantial Muslim population, many of whom show their allegiance to Yediyurappa and his family. “The Yediyurappa family has always been accessible to us, and has been of help for years,” says Imran Ali in Shikaripura town.Although he had been a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist since his college, BSY cultivated the constituency by establishing patronage networks across all caste groups and communities. It is said that Yediyurappa enjoys the unflinching support of the Lingayats and Edigas (an OBC group) in the region, and has also been backed by a majority of Adivasis and Dalits. A considerable section of Muslims also has supported him and his family through the years.“Yediyurappa and his family have brought prosperity to the region. As a chief minister too, Yediyurappa resolved some of the pressing problems of the region,” says an auto-driver of the Shikaripura town. At his office, several BJP workers have been working nights to secure a handsome win for his younger son B.S. Vijayendra in the 2023 elections. After being forced to resign as the chief minister in 2021, Yediyurappa handed over the reins of Shikaripura to Vijayendra, while his elder son Raghavendra was elected to the Lok Sabha from Shimoga. Despite all attempts by the BJP’s high command to sideline him, Yediyurappa has still been able to exert his power because of the support he enjoys across the state, especially among the influential Lingayats. Guruprasad, BJP’s booth president for the constituency, says that Yediyurappa doesn’t believe in polarising Hindus and Muslims. “For him, the only concern is development and people’s problems. Nothing else. His reputation will also ensure his son Vijayendra’s win. We expect our victory margin to be nothing less than 50,000 votes,” he says, echoing Yediyurappa’s recent statement that he believes that Hindus and Muslims should live like brothers and that he doesn’t agree with a few party leaders who constantly make anti-Muslim remarks. “Without him (Yediyurappa), there is no BJP in the state,” Guruprasad asserts. Although the former chief minister has not been in Shikaripura much, Vijayendra has followed his father’s template. Despite the shrill Hindutva campaign by the party’s top leadership, Vijayendra’s convoy almost always is accompanied by a few Muslim men and women. In fact, a few burqa-clad women with the BJP’s flag marched at the front for symbolic purposes, when Vijayendra filed his nomination for the forthcoming polls. Women in burqas supporting Vijayendra’s nomination. Photo: By arrangementStriking contrastIn striking contrast, Shivamogga town has been a centre of religious polarisation for many years. The BJP groomed the Kuruba community leader and former deputy chief minister K.S. Eshwarappa as the face of Hindutva. Known for his vitriolic remarks against Muslims, Eshwarappa recently made news when he declared that the BJP doesn’t need any Muslim votes to win elections. Eshwarappa was elected multiple times as Shivamogga’s MLA since 1989, and was considered an integral part of the BJP’s Hindutva expansion plans in the state. His remarks have often increased volatility and created riot-like conditions in Shimoga, which has a substantial population of upwardly-mobile Muslims.The serene surroundings of this prominent Malnad town are vitiated by the strong polarisation even in the 2023 campaign. Most Hindus, especially the youth, talk about their preference for the BJP, while Muslims speak similarly about either the Congress or the Janata Dal (Secular) [JD(S)]. “We will vote in the name of Modi,” says a Hindu shopkeeper who has been an avid supporter of Hindutva. For him, Hindutva trumps development issues as a voting concern. Similarly, a Muslim shopkeeper says, “The BJP has crossed all limits in corruption and alienating the poor and minorities. There is no way BJP is coming to power this time.”Both of them agreed that the otherwise sleepy town could turn into a conflict zone because of such religious polarisation at any moment, even as both worried about their security. Also Read: ‘Karnataka Doesn’t Have a History of Violent Communalism. Which Is Why BJP Has a Tough Time Here’Eshwarappa has been denied an election ticket in 2023. He had already fallen through the ranks after he was forced to resign when a government contractor, Santosh Patil, died by suicide in 2022 after alleging that Ehswarappa, then a cabinet minister in the Basavaraj Bommai government, asked for a 40% commission out of the total contract amount. The allegation earned the Bommai government the tag of “40% Sarkara”, and made corruption allegations against the BJP state government the primary poll plank of the opposition parties. The police registered a case against him, but later closed it due to lack of evidence.Yet, Eshwarappa shot to fame again when Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him directly to praise him for being a loyal BJP worker and not rebelling against the party after being denied an election ticket. The stunt was seen as the BJP’s move to contain the increasing number of rebels in the election run-up, including top leaders like Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi. In 2022, Eswarappa and other BJP leaders of Shimoga undertook a violent funeral procession of a Bajrang Dal worker Harsha. They claimed that he was killed by Islamic fundamentalists, although a number of journalists reported that his murder may have been a result of personal rivalry with some people. BJP leaders like Eshwarappa, however, thought that it was a political murder. Despite the imposition of Section 144 in the town, the BJP leaders organised a massive funeral for Harsha, during which hundreds of Hindutva activists marched through the Muslim-dominated areas of the town. The activists damaged properties owned by Muslims. A BJP campaign vehicle in Shivamogga. Photo: By arrangementWhat the choice of Eshwarappa’s successor revealsThe communal heat since then has only been escalating. The BJP has replaced Eshwarappa with Channabasappa, a hardline Sangh parivar worker who is a little-known corporator in the city’s municipal council but whose only claim to fame is that he threatened to behead Congress leader Siddaramaiah if he “dared” to consume beef in Shimoga.By choosing Channabasappa, the state BJP under B.L. Santosh and Pralhad Joshi has given a clear signal that party workers need to align themselves with the cause of Hindutva to rise through the ranks. The new trend has been in the making for some years now but has taken a concrete shape with the party raising issues like hijab, halal, Muslim quota and other such polarising campaigns with active support from its national leadership.The party’s turnaround has come amidst senior leaders exiting from the organisation and a series of internal tussles. Yet, the party had to call in Yediyurappa to steer the election campaign in the face of massive anti-incumbency. Yediyurappa is a leader who the BJP doesn’t like but can’t part its way with. He is credited for the growth of the BJP in Karnataka, when all other southern states kept an arm’s distance from it. However, he never quite fuelled Hindutva sentiments in the state but relied entirely on the social coalition of Lingayats, Valmikis (ST), and a section of Dalits to create a formidable support base for the BJP. As a chief minister, he gave huge grants to Lingayat mutts, and even Muslim institutions. His manoeuvres to patronise nodal organisations of caste groups in the state helped him emerge as one of the biggest leaders of the state. He has had a difficult time ever since the Narendra Modi-led BJP foregrounded Hindutva as its most-important anchor, and empowered leaders with strong Hindutva roots. The reins of the party came under leaders like Santosh and Joshi and their coterie of hardline Hindutva leaders like Anant Kumar Hegde, Pratap Simha, C.T. Ravi, Tejasvi Surya. Although the top leadership didn’t want Vijayendra to contest, Yediyurappa still proved to be a hard bargainer because the BJP values victory more than anything else. Observers say that BJP acted mostly like a Mandal party, stitching together tactical social coalitions to win elections. The Lingayat leadership has been replaced by Brahmins or leaders with a Brahmanical worldview. “Thus, Yediyurappa is sought to be replaced by Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, a Lingayat leader from Bijapur known for his anti-Muslim remarks. BJP’s Vokkaliga leaders like R. Ashok are being sidelined to prop up polarising Vokkaliga faces like C.T. Ravi,” a Bengaluru-based political analyst, who didn’t want to be named, says.BJP’s internal tussles may or may not damage its electoral prospects, but its contrasting campaigns in Shivamogga and Shikaripura reflect the ideological churning in which the saffron party is currently burning.