Bengaluru: The Verashaiva-Lingayat community could well be heading towards a vertical split in the light of a separate meeting convened by water resources minister M B Patil here on August 10 to decide the future course of action.
Interestingly, this meeting where pontiffs and representatives of various Maths are scheduled to speak, would be held a week after Akhila Bharathiya Veerashaiva Mahasabha, the parent body of Veerashaivas and Lingayats, headed by former minister and Congress MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa, claimed that Veerashaivas and Lingayats are same but batted for a separate religion status for the community.
Evidently, this has not gone down well among Lingayat ministers and legislators owing allegiance to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for they contend that Veerashaivas and Lingayats perform rituals in a different manner and therefore are different.
When contacted, Mr Patil declined to disclose details of a meeting held on Friday, on grounds that it was an internal meeting of certain leaders.
"Whatever may be the decision of the Mahasabha, we are taking certain decisions on this vexed issue and planning to submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister. It is up to Mr Siddaramaiah either to seek the opinion of experts or to forward both the memorandums to the Union government for the next course of action. Let the central government take the final call on the issue,” he added.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA B R Patil, one of the legislators who attended the meeting on Friday, told DC that they never discussed political implications of the issue since a number of apolitical leaders too were present.
The purpose of August 10 meeting would be to voice their opinion on the subject and allow the government to take its decision.
“I strongly feel this issue is not going to divide our community,” he added. The water resources minister said he had no personal interest but he was concerned about the community.
“I do not want to comment anything on resolutions adopted by the Mahasabha last week. All like-minded people have convened a meeting on August 10 to be attended by people from across the state,” he added.
According to sources, Mr M B Patil reportedly expressed his ire over the manner in which the Mahasabha was functioning under the leadership of Mr Shamanur Shivashankarappa and felt the ruling party could encounter in Assembly polls in 2018 if the state government continued to neglect Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, just like Brahmins.
