JD(S) to tour north Karnataka to woo Lingayats

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posted on 13 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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BANGALORE: In a strategic move, the JD (S) has deputed three Lingayat leaders - Basavanagouda Patil Yatnal, A B Patil and Basavara..

BANGALORE: In a strategic move, the JD (S) has deputed three Lingayat leaders - Basavanagouda Patil Yatnal, A B Patil and Basavaraj Horatti - to undertake the first leg of their tour in north Karnataka in order to strengthen the party at the grassroots.
During the tour, the leaders will also identify disgruntled elements in the BJP and woo them to the party fold. The move is to reach out to the Lingayat community, which is solidly backing Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and also bring the JD(S) - perceived to be the party of Vokkaligas - towards the politically crucial Lingayat community.

"The choice of leaders and area in which they have been asked to tour the Lingayat dominated MumbaiKarnataka and HyderabadKarnataka regions - conveys the fact that the party is serious on wooing the Lingayats, which was once the mainstay of the Janata Pariwar," a top JD(S) leader told Express.

While these three leaders are to tour north Karnataka for the next 45 days starting June 15 in order to prepare the ground for the entry of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, two more teams comprising Mandya MP Chaluvarayaswamy, Magadi MLA H C Balakrishna and Sravanabelagola MLA C S Putte Gowda have been told to tour the Vokkaligadominated oldMysore region.

Highlighting the failures of the BJP government and the corruption scams of Yeddyurappa are the two issues on which the JD (S) leaders intend to build the party from the scratch.