Vokkaliga

​Explained: The Lingayat-Vokkaliga factor in Karnataka elections

The two traditionally powerful caste groups, Lingayats and Vokkaligas, virtually controlled state politics between 1956 and 1972 and the L-V caste equation powered the Congress’s political hold over Karnataka until the mid-1970s

Understanding BS Yediyurappa's Karnataka cabinet: Lingayats get lion's share of ministerial berths; 3 seats apiece for Vokkaligas, Dalits

Eight Lingayat leaders were sworn in as ministers today (including Yediyurappa himself), out of the total 18, ensuring the community holds almost 44 percent share in the Yediyurappa cabinet.

Tejasvi Surya’s win, Kanhaiya Kumar’s defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha polls reflect the changing narrative of ‘New India’

Tejasvi Surya projected himself as flag-bearer of ‘New India’ that is confident, assertive and which believes that issues like poverty, economic inequality and social divide will not be resolved by rhetoric but by strengthening the concept of nation-state and market economy.

Lok Sabha Election 2019, Karnataka profile: Congress-JDS, BJP set for epic clash; Belgaum, Bangalore North, Shimoga key seats

With 28 seats, Karnataka has the second highest number of Lok Sabha seats in the south after Tamil Nadu.

HD Deve Gowda faces doubtful future as JD(S) finds its Lok Sabha campaign limited to family, Vokkaligas in south Karnataka

JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda is livid these days as he knows that the survival of HD Kumaraswamy-led alliance government in Karnataka depends a lot on the outcomes of the Lok Sabha Election 2019

Who is Tejasvi Surya? Youngest BJP candidate, supported by RSS, raises high nationalism pitch on social media

Tejasvi also becomes crucial to BJP's Karnataka plans given a sizable population of Brahmins and upper caste Hindus. But that aside, Bengaluru South has also been the base for RSS operations in the city for over two decades.

In Karnataka's Mandya, stardom may hijack campaign as Sumalatha, Nikhil Gowda seek to cash in on sympathy, family legacy

With actor-politicians Sumalatha and Nikhil Gowda, both first timers in politics, vying for Mandya seat, it's feared that important issues like agrarian crisis, water woes, etc, may get sidelined during the election campaign

Seat-sharing talks for LS polls could increase Congress-JD(S) woes as HD Kumaraswamy, others push for their kin

Late actor-politician Ambareesh's wife Sumalatha’s unexpected claim over Mandya constituency has resulted in a new headache for the JD(S)-Congress coalition in sharing the 28 LS seats in Karnataka

Jayanagar bypoll: Win for Congress' Sowmya Reddy may spell trouble for Ananth Kumar as Modi magic loses sheen

The defeat in Jayanagar means three of the eight Assembly segments under Bengaluru South are now with the Congress.

Karnataka polls: HD Kumaraswamy wins trust vote, but unhappy Congress leaders indicate rough road ahead

An unequal alliance in which JD(S) keeps the chief minister’s slot with fewer than half the MLAs of Congress can only be equalled, to begin with, if Congress gets most of the key portfolios in the ministry, which Kumaraswamy will get around to constitute now.