Mahasabha drums up support for leaders
BENGALURU: Amid concerns that association with the Lingayat religion movement led to the exclusion of leaders from the state Cabinet, the Jagatika Lingayat Mahasabha came out in support of the move and put out an advertisement in leading dailies to “dispel myths”.
Days before the state elections, the government of former chief minister Siddaramaiah had decided to grant minority religion status to the Lingayat sect amid opposition even from within the Congress. However, in the elections, the Congress was reduced to 78 seats from the 122 it won in 2013. Some leaders had blamed the Lingayat issue as one of the reasons for this lacklustre performance. Such has been the mistrust of the movement that even the Janata Dal (Secular) decided not to name its senior leader Basavaraj Horatti as a minister, a move he said was influenced by his involvement in the Lingayat movement.
In Saturday’s advertisements, the Mahasabha has argued that a suitable comparison would be with the elections of 2008, when the BJP swept to power, predominantly based on its strong performance in the northern parts of the state, where Lingayats are a dominant force. According to the Mahasabha, there are 13 districts in the northern and central regions of the state that account for 96 seats where Lingayats are numerically very significant.
Of these seats, the Mahasabha argues, the Congress won 40 in 2018, as against 29 in 2008. “Ever since the Karnataka Assembly elections have been announced, many Congress leaders and few media houses have been blaming the Lingayat movement for the Congress’s setback in the elections,” the advertisement reads.
The Mahasabha argues instead that most Lingayats in the northern regions voted for the party because of the move.
Speaking to HT, SM Jamdar, leader of the Mahasabha, said there was no doubt that leaders of the movement were being punished. “Lingayats have always been vary of the Congress, but this time, colluding with the JD(S), the Congress has once again tried to sideline Lingayat leaders like MB Patil,” he said.
The advertisement comes at a time when the leader of the movement, MB Patil has kicked up a row over his exclusion from the Cabinet. A senior leader in the Congress said that Patil was aiming for the state Congress chief’s post, which would fall vacant now that the incumbent G Parameshwara is now the deputy CM.