BENGALURU: In a move that could shatter the caste calculus of all political parties, and possibly give an edge to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, ahead of next year's elections to the Legislative Assembly, a section of pontiffs, ministers and elected representatives demanded minority status for Lingayats as well as separate religion status on par with Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism, here on Thursday.
With one section of the prominent Lingayat community upping the ante, a vertical split of the numerically significant Veerashaiva-Lingayat community seems imminent. The leaders present at the meet on Thursday vociferously opposed Akhila Bharat Veerashaiva Mahasabha's contention that Veerashaivas and Lingayats are two faces of the same coin. These pontiffs wanted to float a separate Mahasabha for Lingayats.
In an indication of the growing divide - political and ideological - ABVS president and former minister Shamanur Shivashankarappa boycotted the event and declined to comment on developments within the community. "I didn't want to comment....I will react tomorrow," he told Deccan Chronicle.
Thursday's meeting, was not attended either by the seers of Suttur in Mysuru and Siddaganga of Tumakuru - considered the two most powerful Maths in south Karnataka.
