BENGALURU: Members of All India Veerashaiva Vigilance Committee (AIVVC) on Friday threatened to launch an agitation against leaders of BJP and lay siege to the party office here on July 11 in the wake of reports that Union minister G.M. Siddeshwar has been asked to quit.
Former police commissioner of Bengaluru, Jyoti Prakash Mirji, and advocate M.P. Amrutesh of AIVVC, charged that the party was biased against Lingayats though seven of the 17 Members of Parliament elected from Karnataka belonged to this numerically significant community.
“The other ten MPs too were supported by Lingayats and won the elections. While some first time MPs elected from other states have been accommodated in the cabinet, media reports suggest that minister of state for heavy industries, G.M. Siddeshwara was asked to resign. This is unfortunate. It seems the BJP needs the support of the community, but does not give adequate representation to leaders of the community,” they added.
They warned that ministers and BJP leaders visiting Karnataka would be greeted with black-flag demonstrations incase the party fails to mend its ways vis-a-vis representation to Lingayats.
