Former Deputy Chief Minister and expelled BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa said he would launch a forum of more than 1008 Hindu pontiffs in north Karnataka on February 4.
The forum, named as 'Krantiveera Brigade', will be launched at Basavana Bagewadi (Vijayapura), the birthplace of Basavanna, the 12th-century social reformer.
“The brigade was created at the behest of the Hindu seers who wanted to unite all Hindus and work together to save Hindutva. We will perform ‘pada puja’ of 1008 seers which will be followed by the formation of district and state level committees,” said Eshwarappa, who was expelled from the BJP in April 2024 for contesting as a rebel candidate against the party's sitting MP, B.Y. Raghavendra, son of veteran BJP leader B.S. Yediyurappa.
The ‘Krantiveera Brigade' is named after the Kuruba icon Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna, an 18th-century warrior and commander-in-chief of Rani Chennamma of Kittur in Belagavi. He was hanged by the British for ‘treason’.
This is the second time that Eshwarappa, a Kuruba (OBC) leader from Shivamogga and a contemporary of Yediyurappa, is floating a forum to unite the OBC communities.
In 2017, Eshwarappa launched the ‘Sangolli Rayanna Brigade’ to take on fellow Kuruba and then Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the tallest ‘Ahinda’ leader in the state. Ahinda—a caste coalition of minorities, backward classes and dalits—has been a decisive force in Karnataka elections and Eshwarappa had hoped that the movement would bring in new leadership and perhaps carve out a new political constituency by breaking the ‘Ahinda’ coalition into ‘Hinda’ (Ahinda minus the minorities) bloc to galvanise the backward communities towards the BJP.
Incidentally, both Yediyurappa and Siddaramaiah had succeeded in consolidating the decisive Lingayat community and the ‘Ahinda’ votes respectively and were elevated to the post of the chief minister. Rayanna Brigade’s campaign was comparable to Siddaramaiah’s experiment with ‘Ahinda’ in 2007, when he walked out of the JD(S), joined the Congress as the uncontested Ahinda leader and eventually became the chief minister.
Eshwarappa was hoping to replicate the same by consolidating the OBC vote, as Kuruba is reportedly the third largest community after Lingayat and Vokkaliga in the state. But the BJP central leadership stalled the plan as the saffron party was still smarting from its 2013 defeat owing to splinter factions—the KJP led by Yediyurappa and the BSR Congress led by ST leader B. Sriramulu.
Eshwarappa, in an exclusive interview to THE WEEK, had admitted that it was Yediyurappa who had vehemently opposed the brigade. “Yediyurappa was opposed to the brigade as uniting the backward classes and SC, ST to favour the BJP would diminish his stature in the party and strengthen leaders like myself. Even Central leaders stood with him. It was our bad luck,” Eshwarappa had said.
The numerically strong backward classes have been a decisive force in state politics, which was dominated by Vokkaligas, Lingayats and Brahmins till 2013 when Siddaramaiah became the ‘out-of-turn’ chief minister, beating all his contenders within the Congress party.
This time, the new brigade aims to focus on the unification of Hindus, the protection of Hindutva, cow protection, priesthood training, farmers' welfare and social justice.
“The forum will be apolitical. We will support the smaller Hindu mutts, which are going through a financial crunch as the seers are keen on working for the unity of Hindu society,” said Eshwarappa, the convener of the brigade.
The veteran leader, while stating he had no personal rivalry against Yediyurappa or his sons, said that the state BJP was a divided house and the rebels today were making the same demands that he had made.
Meanwhile, the rebel faction led by Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, is planning to meet the party high command in Delhi this week.
“We will apprise the leaders of the corruption carried out by Vijayendra and his ‘adjustment politics’ with the Congress leaders. We would like to ask them if they want a corrupt family or honest and loyal party workers. We want the party to keep the corrupt away, end dynasty politics and promote leaders who are committed to Hindutva,” said Yatnal.