Follow us on FROM TOI PRINT EDITION BJP, BSY and a big plan: Yediyurappa’s exit is a calculated risk by saffron party’s central leadership July 26, 2021, 9:31 PM IST Neerja Chowdhury is a political commentator. Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who resigned on Monday, is the only mass leader BJP had in the state, and in the entire south. The way seers of the powerful Shaivite Lingayat mutts rallied around him in recent days, urging the party high command to let him continue, showed his hold on the community. Lingayats, who are 17% of the state’s population, are the second-largest community – Dalits are around 23% – and have been the mainstay of BJP. They affect electoral outcomes in as many as 100 out of 224 assembly seats in the state.