Lingayat issue: Cong's Karnataka poll masterstroke? BJP in a fix; 10 points

After Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday granted a separate religious status to the Lingayat community, the Congress party rubbished the claims that the decision was a “political move”. The clarification came after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the Opposition camp in the state, accused the Congress of striving to garner the votes of Lingayats, a dominant community in the state, ahead of the Assembly elections likely in April-May.

The Congress even dared BJP President Amit Shah and the party’s Karnataka chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyuruppa to clarify their position on Lingayats. "It is inappropriate to link the decision of the Karnataka government vis-a-vis declaration of Lingayat Samaj as a minority community to the political processes," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala.

Hours after the Karnataka government accepted the suggestions of the Nagamohan Das committee yesterday to form a separate religion status for the Lingayat community, clashes broke out between the followers of Lingayat and Veerashaiva communities in Kalaburagi – when the former were celebrating the decision and the latter protesting the same.