Karnataka: Entire community is behind our Mahasabha, says Shamanur Shivashankarappa

Bengaluru: “If Akhila Bharathiya Veerashaiva Mahasabha is a private limited company, is Water Resources Minister, M B Patil running a public limited company?” asked former minister and Mahasabha president, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, here on Monday in a voice laced with scarcasm.

He was responding to Mr Patil's reported statement that the Mahasabha was not representative of the Veerashaivas and with only some two dozen members on board functioned like a private ltd firm.

Speaking to DC, Mr Shamanur took strong objection to Mr Patil convening a meeting in Bengaluru on August 10 to collect the opinion of community leaders on the controversial issue of a separate religious tag for the Veerashaiva Lingayats. When the Mahasabha, which was the voice of lakhs of Veerashaiva-Lingayats had held a meeting of district presidents and adopted several resolutions, including the demand for a separate religious tag, there was no need for the minister to hold another meeting on the same issue, he contended.

“When the Veerashaiva Mahasabha has been fighting for the cause for many decades, what prompted Mr Patil to organise such a meeting?"he asked, adding that he was willing to attend it if invited.

Recalling that Mr Patil had taken a delegation a few years ago to meet the then Union Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde and make a case for the Veerashaiva-Lingayats, he said it was strange that he had now done a U-turn on the issue.

“He has the support of only a few people, while the entire community is solidly behind the Mahasabha,” the veteran Congress leader added. While acknowledging that the pontiffs were divided on the issue, he maintained a consensus could be evolved by inviting them for one more round of talks.