Prakash in, Cong’s Lingayat votebank likely to swell

With the Lingayat community, the largest in the state and dominant in northern parts, seen to be firmly behind the BJP after Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat, was not allowed to be Chief Minister beyond eight days, the entry of Prakash into the Congress is seen as a Congress attempt to balance its own caste strategy in the state.

Prakash and seven of his supporters were welcomed into the Congress by state Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. “The entry is unconditional. There is no guarantee of election tickets for the supporters,” Congress sources said.

Kharge said Prakash and his followers would strengthen the Congress in the state.

Since quitting the JDS, Prakash and his supporters were being wooed by both the Congress and BJP. Prakash had been negotiating the entry of his supporters and election tickets for them.

Over the past week, with the growing likelihood of Assembly elections by the second half of May, there has been increasing pressure on the Prakash group to decide their future.

Having distanced himself from the BJP and with Deve Gowda finding a replacement for Prakash’s knowledge of law and parliamentary affairs by welcoming former Law Minister and senior Janata leader M C Nanaiah into the JDS fold, Prakash finally made a decision to join the Congress, sources said.

After announcing his entry into the Congress, Prakash said a farmers’ rally would soon be organised in his home district of Bellary where more supporters would join the Congress. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had been invited to the rally, he said.

With the entry of Prakash and the impending return of former Chief Minister S M Krishna to Karnataka politics, the Congress has managed to provide leadership faces for major castes in the state though the factions in the party still sit uneasy.

Krishna will be the Vokkaliga face of the party, a counterweight to Deve Gowda. Currently a patriarch for the second largest community in the state, Kharge will be the Scheduled Caste leader while Siddaramaiah will be the backward castes leader.