HUBBALLI: With May 10 Karnataka Assembly elections around the corner, Congress leader Jagadish Shettar met seers of the community in Hubballi in a bid to seek their support for the party. He was accompanied by party leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
The meeting between the Lingayat seers and Congress leaders Shamanur Shivashankarappa and Jagadish Shettar was held on May 5, with less than a week to go for voting in the Assembly elections.
Shettar, a former chief minister, who recently joined Congress after being denied a ticket from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Laxman Savadi, who formerly served as the deputy CM during the B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government, belong to the Lingayat community which is believed to have a crucial impact on electoral outcomes in the state.
The Lingayat votes have traditionally been a key determinant of electoral outcomes in the state. The community has traditionally sided with the BJP and several Lingayat-dominated regions of the state are considered to be saffron strongholds.
Lingayats are largely concentrated in north Karnataka, in the districts of Belagavi, Dharwad, and Gadag. They also have a considerable presence in Bagalkot, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi, Bidar and Raichur. They also inhabit vast swathes of South Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, Mysuru and Mandya. (ANI)