Bengaluru: Treading cautiously on the issue of granting the Lingayats religion status, a few days after he announced his vocal support for the proposal, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said he had not received any memorandum from anyone seeking the privilege for the dominant community in Karnataka. He was however quick to add, "If a memorandum is received, it will be sent to the Union government for necessary action."
The statement gains significance in the wake of a discussion among Lingayats and Veerashaivas over seeking religion status. Some Lingayat legislators in the Congress had expressed their reservation against this move fearing it would drive a wedge in the community and pit one section against the Congress party for trying to create disunity among them-something the opposition BJP would be quick to exploit in a poll year.
The Lingayats constitute about 20 per cent of Karnataka's population. Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, the CM said; " I was only responding to a plea by Veerashaiva Mahasabha leaders seeking religion status for Lingayats. I clearly told them that I will forward the memorandum only if the decision of the community is unanimous." Realising how crucial the decision would be to the poll prospects of the ruling Congress, the government had constituted a five-minister team comprising M.B. Patil, Basavaraj Rayaraddi, Vinay Kulkarni, Dr Sharan Prakash Patil and S.S. Mallikarjun to tour all districts to elicit the opinion of Lingayat pontiffs on the religion status.
