The Janata Dal (Secular) is in a strange situation where the party considers itself the face of the Vokkaliga clan in Karnataka but is unable to participate in the Kempegowda Jayanti celebrations, to honor the famous community leader who founded Bengaluru.
The JD(S), which is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party today, found itself on the spot when the ruling Congress in Karnataka left out the names of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and current union minister for heavy industry and steel HD Kumaraswamy, former allies, from the invitation.
In 2022 also the JD(S) could not participate in the inauguration of a 108-feet tall bronze statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, called the Statue of Prosperity, in Bengaluru, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi because it was a Congress ally at the time. and have jointly formed the government in 2018 with the support of the Congress replacing the BJP dispensation led by chief minister BS Yediyurappa.
“Kempegowda has no one,” Kumaraswamy said, adding that he belongs to Karnataka. “I already know that our name was removed from the invitation, but I will not take it into account. I am not one to make a problem when my name is not on the invitation anytime.
The Vokkaligas, who form about 14 to 15 percent of the state’s voting population, are a politically influential community in Karnataka.
Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, also of Vokkaliga, has been trying to push himself as the face of the community in Karnataka, citing the “waning impact” of JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda, which is still in recovery mode. Shivakumar wanted to portray himself as the face of this influential community and ensure that the names of Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy were not mentioned.
Addressing the 515th Kempegowda Jayanthi at the Kanteerava stadium, Shivakumar said, “It is all our responsibility to nurture and develop the legacy of Nadaprabhu Kempe Gowda. He took care of all sections of the people when he ruled Bengaluru. It is appropriate that representatives of all communities participate in this celebration. Baba Saheb Ambedkar said that those who forget history cannot forget Kempe Gowda’s legacy. The city he founded more than five centuries ago, it is important that we preserve the culture and values the core of the established city.BBMP has released Rs 1 lakh per taluk to conduct a debate on Kempegwda for school students.
Shivakumar’s brother DK Suresh, the fourth MP from Bengaluru Rural seat, which is known as a constituency of DK brothers and Vokkaliga camp, faced a bitter defeat at the hands of Dr CN Manjunath in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Dr Manjunath, Deve Gowda’s son-in-law and National Democratic Alliance candidate, defeated Suresh by 2,68,094 votes in his own stronghold. It was a defeat that Shivakumar described as “personal”, which he later acknowledged was due to misplaced confidence and planning.
“Kempegowda should be respected by all; he built Bengaluru as we see it today. Ignoring people is unfair and Kempegowda Jayanti should be a cross-party, cross-community celebration. Last year, the Congress didn’t even celebrate, but now suddenly they are involved in this political drama,” said Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, a former BJP minister who oversees the statue project and the open program as he is the vice-chairman of the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Heritage Area Development Authority.
The inauguration of the statue comes ahead of the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls and the BJP is hoping to garner support from the community with the gesture.
During the 2023 assembly elections, the BJP is confident of breaching the stronghold of Vokkaliga and south Mysore region, including Mandya, by winning the Krishnarajapete by-election in 2019. At that time, all the seven seats in Mandya were won. by JD (S).
Kempegowda is considered the founder of modern Bengaluru and a Vokkaliga icon. In the build-up to the statue event, BJP leaders were seen heli-hopping across the country collecting “mrittika” (“holy soil”) from more than 22,000 places to develop a park around the statue.
The JD(S) at that time raised hue and cry over not being invited by the ruling BJP when the party was in opposition, after joining hands with the Congress to form the government in 2018. It was said to be an insult to the entire Vokkaliga community in the state.
“We have invited everyone to the event. Basavaraj Bommai, the then BJP CM, and myself have given invitation letters to various officials across party lines, including Deve Gowda and Siddaramaiah,” Narayan said when asked by News18 why the JD family (S ) was ignored and uninvited when BJP. is in power.
Kumaraswamy then said that his father and former PM Deve Gowda got a call from CM Bommai, inviting him to the event, but the invitation letter was handed over by someone to the police stationed at Deve Gowda’s house.
In 2023, the JD(S) formed an alliance with the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections and won two of the four seats contested as part of the NDA. Now, once again, it cannot be a part of the celebrations as JD(S) is in the opposite camp of Congress, which is the ruling party in Karnataka. Surprisingly, Kumaraswamy, now a BJP ally, won the Lok Sabha elections from Mandya, a Vokkaliga-dominated seat, with a huge margin of over 2.5 lakh votes.
On the question whether this is a battle for Vokkaliga supremacy, Narayan said that a person is the master of a community. “Why do people want to be masters? Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar have lost control over the Old Mysore region and that is why they are doing this political drama,” he said.
