BELAGAVI: In a show of strength, more than two lakh Lingayats, including several seers and leaders of Congress and JD(S), who gathered at this border city on Tuesday adopted a resolution demanding a separate religion status for Lingayats, and vowed to step up pressure on the Union government through more rallies and “Bengaluru Chalo” march later this year.
The leaders announced rallies in Latur on September 3 and at Chitradurga on September 28 followed by ones in Kalaburagi and Mysuru in October and November respectively.
In view of the rally held here today, the city witnessed an overwhelming number of Lingayats, attired in white and saffron wear, in particular around Lingaraj College, the venue of the event. Later, all the participants marched to Rani Channamma circle where they handed over a memorandum to Mr R Ramachandran, CEO, Zilla Panchayat, urging the state government to accord separate religion status for Lingayats. Many seers displayed placards painted in blood by members of Zilla Lingayat Sanghatane.
Siddarama Swamy of Naganoor Math had organized an elaborate spread of vegetarian delicacies for more than two lakh participants at several places in the city on Tuesday.
