After days of speculation, the head of the Shirahatti Fakireshwar Lingayat mutt, Dingaleshwar Swami, has announced that he will contest the Lok Sabha elections from Dharwad as an independent, taking on the Union Minister and BJP candidate Pralhad Joshi.
Speaking to the media in Bengaluru on Monday, April 8, he criticised Joshi for disrespecting Lingayats and said that it was devotees who had asked him to contest the polls. “This is a Dharma Yudha declared by those who value their dignity and kaavidharis against two national parties and selfish politicians,” he said.
Joshi, a Brahmin, is widely believed to have been instrumental in the removal of BS Yediyurappa from the post of chief minister. After the BJP’s drubbing in the previous assembly elections, Dingaleshwar Swami, who is a supporter of Yediyurappa, had said that his prophecy that the “BJP being washed away in the tears of Yediyurappa” had come true.
The Dharwad seat will go to polls on May 7. The last date for filing of nomination papers for the second phase is on April 19 and withdrawal of papers is April 22.
The Congress has fielded Vinod Asuti, a Kuruba and a political newbie, in a seat where Lingayats — mostly from the Panchamashali and Banajiga sub-castes — form a voting bloc. Asuti was an aspirant for the Navalgund seat for the assembly elections last year, but had to make way for NH Konreddy.
Speaking to the media later on Monday, Joshi declined to comment, other than to repeat what he previously said, “Whatever the swamiji does, I will accept it as blessings.”
The row started on March 27 in Hubballi, where Dingaleshwar Swami met with seers of other prominent Lingayat mutts including the Murugha Mutt, and demanded that the BJP withdraw Joshi as their candidate, as he had disrespected Lingayats and field another candidate instead. He mentioned the sidelining of Lingayats leaders such as Jagadish Shettar, Laxman Savadi. He said that devotees were demanding that like in Uttar Pradesh, religious leaders should contest polls.
BS Yediyurappa, the BJP’s Parliamentary Board Committee member, quickly ruled out a change in candidate and said that he would talk to the seers.
In the days that followed, some seers including the Murugha Mutt seer distanced themselves from the demand.
Earlier this week, Dingaleshwar Swami told the media that the Murugha Mutt seer had been coerced into reading out a statement. He also criticised the BJP — without naming the party — in strong terms. To questions from reporters, he said that leaders of all parties had been in touch with him, but declined to give a clear answer on whether he would join the Congress.
Dingaleshwar swami also criticised the BJP for giving three tickets to Brahmins when their community is numerically small. He also criticised the party for ignoring other leaders such as KS Eshwarappa and insulting him.