bengaluru the growing speculation over bs yediyurappas time in office has left congress hoping that sections of the lingayat community he represents will move away from bjp in anger any shift in how lingayats bjps major support base vote could significantly influence the next assembly elections leading to possible gains for congressbut for this to happen a lot will depend on how bjp handles yediyurappas exit if there is one and whom it brings in as the new chief minister another lingayat face may help it avoid or minimise loss of supportstill congress members are counting on multiple factors to work and help them woo the communitythey are treading carefully while commenting on the reported churn in karnataka bjp as yediyurappa continues to enjoy wide popularity in the community in fact senior congress mlas and former ministers shamanur shivashankarappa and mb patil have voiced solidarity with yediyurappa by asking the bjp brass to treat the 78yearold with respectlarge parts of the community once backed congress thanks to the efforts of former chief minister veerendra patil but they moved closer to bjp after veerendra patil was removed from the top job in 1990 by the then congress president rajiv gandhilingayats account for 17 per cent of karnatakas population and form a big voter group in 95 out of the total 224 assembly constituencies whoever wins more than half of the 95 seats moves up to the third floor of the vidhana soudha this was the case with bjp in the 2008 and 2018 assembly electionscongress has been trying to improve its position among lingayat voters in 2017 it launched a campaign seeking independent status for the community but the move backfired in the 2018 assembly polls with bjp reportedly struggling to find a successor to yediyurappa congress believes there is an opportunity to win the community backwhen we look at the legacy of yediyurappa lingayats voted en masse for him in 2008 mainly because of the anger against former prime minister hd deve gowda and his reported vokkaliga bais lingayats have continued to back bjp since then now congress is trying to capitalise where it failed the last time said sm jamdar the convener for the jagtika lingayat mahasabhabut mb patil told toi that his statement was not political in nature it was uncalled for the manner in which yediyurappa was treated when he reached delhi even before he met the central leadership the news of his supposed resignation was released to the media for a man of his stature and age who built karnataka bjp from the ground up it was truly hurtful as a member of the community i found it upsetting he saidhe added that he would say the same thing if congress asked him to explain his comments