Politics dominated by caste equations seem to be ruling the roost in Karnataka where Lingayats and Vokkaligas, the two major castes who form 18  percent and 16 percent respectively of the states nearly 6 crore population spread over 28 districts taking cudgels against each other.

The fight between the two communities which started during the early years of the formation of the state now seems to be between the jailed former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and the former Prime Minister H D Devegowda.

While the Lingayats dominate in the northern Karnataka region beyond Tungabhadra river, Vokkaligas are prominent population in the Southern  Karnataka districts of Bangalore, Mandya, Hassan, Mysore, Kolar and Chikamagalur.

Dalits population in Karnataka is estimated at 23 per cent, Kurubas 8 per cent while the Muslims make up 10 per cent. The rest of the population comprises Kurubas (8%), Muslim (12.2%),Brahmins (5 %),Christian (1.9%), Jains (0.8%), Buddhist   ( 0.7%), Sikhs (0.1% ), and remaining belong to other religions.

Though the Dalits outnumber the Lingayats and Vokkaligas, no Dalit leader,whether it be Late B Basavalingappa, M Mallikarjuna Kharge and others have been able to occupy the post of Chief Minister in political history of Karnataka after independence. 

This is because of the internal squabble between various groups with in the Dalit and backward classes community.Frantic efforts by Dalit revolutionary leader and former Minitser late  B Basavalingappa to bring all of them under one umbrella to  achieve political supremacy failed due to egoism of the group leaders.

Both  Deve Gowda and Yeddyurappa have begun a new era of caste politics by waging a war of slur against each other.The caste  war started hotting up after Devegowda's son H D Kumaraswamy, who became Chief Minister with the help of the BJP in 2006 with an understanding that he would hand over power to Yeddyurappa after 20 months, failed to relinquish his post as per the agreement. The rift started then, is snowballing even now and no one knows which turn it takes in the coming days.

Since one year, both Devegowda's family and Yeddyurappa have engaged in pulling each other's legs by exposing various omissions and commissions. While Devedgowda used Kumaraswamy to expose Yeddyurappa's "faults" , Yeddyurappa used his political secaretary Puttaswamy to do vice-versa,providing juicy copies to both electronic and print media.
The two caste groups that have dominated the political scene are major players in the educational field, running institutions from kindergarten to engineering and medicine.

The power of two castes can be seen by the number of chief ministers from the groups since Independence.
Of  19 chief ministers, 7 were Lingayats,   and 7 were Vokkaligas, 2 Brahmins, 4 backward classes.Upset at the sacking of powerful Lingayat Leader Veerendra Patil as chief minister by then Congress chief Rajiv Gandhi,in october 1990, majority of the Lingayats moved away from the Congress towards the BJP.In the last 20 years, the only Lingayat chief minister other than Yeddyurappa was J. H. Patel of the Janata Dal. The Lingayat vote for BJP was consolidated in the 2008 assembly polls held after the collapse of JD-S/BJP coalition. 

BJP, particularly Yeddyurappa, virtually exploited the JD-S' 'betrayal' as a 'conspiracy' against Lingayats and bagged 110 seats in the 225-member assembly and became BJP's first chief minister in south India in May 2008 with the help of five Independents to achieve majority in the house. Now the same caste equation is a stumbling block for BJP to act against Yeddyurappa. The chief minister has been facing slew of charges of prime land allotment to his kin, to people who invested in his two sons business ventures and other dealings by the two.

With Yeddyurappa in  prison ,there is no lingayat   leader with pan-Karnataka appeal in the BJP . Even the Congress and the JD-S are not in combat ready to face elections in Karnataka. While the JD-S has lost much of credibility, though it took a lead in releasing documents alleging illegal deals by Yeddyurappa, the Congress has failed to make best use of the opportunity due to internal squabbles in the party'.The electoral debacles starting with losing power in the 2004 assembly polls have demoralised the Congress.  Lingayat leaders  meeting among themselves to publicly express that the community remains neglected by the party. Two years ago when H D Deve Gowda   saw that the support for Yeddyurappa was growing leaps and bounds  Gowda realised that it was time he too used the caste card. Gowda decided to use the Vokkaliga card while making it clear that his community would rally behind the JD-S. The Congress too sensed that the elections would largely be fought on the caste factor and roped in S M Krishna , also a Vokkaliga leader, at the last minute.

Past actions have shown that ,  the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats vote for a leader and not a party. So if a chief ministerial candidate is from their community, they will vote for that person's party.A fear is lurking among both communities that the other will try and outsmart them and therefore continue the constant tussle between themselves.

According to newspaper reports Devegowda at a press conference following the FIR filed by the CID regarding the alleged irregularities in the Upper Krishna project  , hit out at top cop Shankar Bidari (also a Lingayat) for conspiring against him in the matter.Giving a detailed clarification on the project, Gowda said it was cleared after careful consideration and after having been scrutinised by a high-level committee and the cabinet.

The JD(S) leader said that when the BJP?government had given the go ahead for the probe into the matter last year, retired IPS officer D V Guruprasad - who was then holding charge as ADGP, CID - went through the report and dismissed the matter.

“I don’t know why he (Guruprasad) didn’t file a case. However, the minute Bidari took charge he has filed a case. The officer, who has been aspiring for the DG&IGP post, may be hoping that this would be a sure shot way for his desire to be fulfilled,” alleged Gowda.Gowda, who side stepped a direct question about the BJP’s involvement in the matter, said: “If BJP is targeting me, then I will target the entire party. I am going to hit back,” he said, adding he would even wage a battle against the Congress, if need be.

He also accused former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa of controlling the BJP government from inside the jail. “There is no doubt about that. In fact, just before he left the Jayadeva Hospital, it looked like a mini cabinet had been convened by him. Around 15 ministers and Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda were present in the meeting at the hospital,” he said.