Lobbying for berths among Lingayats intensifies

Team Udayavani, May 29, 2018, 11:58 AM IST

Bengaluru: In another battle for Cabinet berths within the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, the Akhila Bharath Veerashaiva Mahasabha has opposed seer Mate Mahadevi’s demand that the post of Deputy Chief Minister be given to M.B. Patil, who supported the minority religion tag demand for Lingayats. Senior Vice-President of the Mahasabha, N. Thippanna said in a press release that Mahadevi had contributed to the defeat of several leaders from the community in the elections. He appealed to the Congress high command to not pay any heed to her demand.

A senior Mahasabha leader said that out of the 16 Veerashaiva-Lingayat legislators in the Congress, more than a dozen are lobbying for Cabinet berths. Some others are opposing the induction of M.B. Patil, for demanding minority status, and S.R. Patil, for not helping party candidates in the elections. In addition to this, there is also a demand for giving the post of Deputy Chief Minister to the President of the Mahasabha Shamanur Shivashankarappa.

However, President of the newly formed Lingayat Mahasabha Basavaraj Horatti said that even if caste plays a major role in this decision, political compulsions would override everything else. Congress MLA Mohan Kondajji said that the Lingayat movement had lost its credibility owing to the political personalities from both sides entering it. Also, all of them happened to be Congress Ministers in the Cabinet. But, he asserted that none of this will carry an impact on the Cabinet formation.

Moreover, it has also been learnt that the Mahasabha has asked the Congress to give representation to a Lingayat leader from Old Mysuru region. Sources say that irrespective of the considerable population of the community in the southern districts, leaders feel that it has not been duly represented. In the coalition, there is only one MLA representing the community in the region. Meanwhile, the coalition leaders said that the Cabinet formation might be pending for some time due to issues like caste and regional balance at play.