Why Gowda got BSY vote

CASTE POLITICS Gowda being a Lingayat will help win over community and aid BSY return as CM in 2013
: DV Sadanand Gowda, who was elected successor to BS Yeddyurappa on Wednesday, was not the outgoing Karnataka chief minister's first choice. If he had his way, BSY would have chosen energy minister Shobha Kharandlaje, a Vokkaliga. But she was not acceptable to the male-dominated BJP set-up and is also a relatively junior leader. His other choice was higher education minister VS Acharya, a Brahmin, but he wouldn't have fitted in with his gameplan.
So BSY decided to go for Gowda,anothertrustedVokkaliga -and not a fellow Lingayat -becausehedoesnotwanthisown standinginthecommunityundermined once he is made chief minister, said BJP insiders. In Karnataka's caste-riddenpolitics, Lingayats number around 20% and Vokkaligas account for 17%.
Brahminsdonotmatterasablock.
BSY's idea was that, by proposing a Lingayat like Gowda, who is his trusted lieutenant, he would also be able to reach out to the Vokkaliga community, which has hitherto been seen as a preserve of the Deve Gowda family-headed the Janata Dal (Secular).
BSY's target is the 2013 assembly polls. His declared goal is to criss-cross the state again, and work for a target of 150 seats.
It is no secret that BSY nurtures a strategy to return as chief minister in six months -once he is cleared by the court of the indictment handed down by former Lokayukta Santosh Hegde in connection with the illegal mining scandal. A friendly Gowda could shield BSY from immediate legal action despite Governor HR Bhardwaj's sanction of criminal proceedings against him on the Lokayukta report.
Sensing BSY's strategy, his bitterest rival general secretary HN Ananth Kumar sought to rally Lingayat MLAs in support of revenue minister Jagdish Shettar, who is a Lingayat, to prevent what he said was an attempt by BSY to rule by “proxy“.