BJP chief Amit Shah (File)
The demand for separate religious status for the dominant Lingayat community in Karnataka is a political game being played by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, the BJP’s national president Amit Shah said here on Monday at the conclusion of a three-day visit to set in motion the BJP’s preparations for the Assembly polls which are scheduled for early 2018.
The BJP chief dismissed the Congress’s moves to support the demand for a separate religion status for Lingayats, a key support base of the BJP, and local pride issues as lacking in intent.
“The fact that the Congress has raised some of these issues so late in its tenure is an indication that it is not serious about these issues and are using it only for electoral purposes,” Shah said. The demand for a separate religion status emerging from the Lingayat community is part of the political game of Siddaramaiah,” he said.
In the course of his three-day visit to Karnataka, the BJP national president held multiple meetings with a BJP core committee to emphasise the need to set aside differences and to draw up strategies for the Karnataka elections next year.
