BENGALURU: Efforts are underway to bring the now estranged
Lingayat and Veerashaiva communities under a single umbrella.
This development comes a year after the Lingayats had sought a separate religion status and a split from the Veerashaiva bloc. The Jagruta Lingayat Samudaya has set three riders if talks with the All-India
Veerashaiva Mahasabha (AIVM) were to succeed.
The decision of the
Siddaramaiah government to accept the Lingayats’ demand and give them the minority religion tag, singed the Congress and cost three ministers, who had backed the movement, their seats in the assembly polls.
Lingayat forum convener SM Jaamdar on Sunday said the community is ready to discuss the issue with the Veerashaiva Mahasabha, but the riders aren’t “pre-conditions” for talks.
The three conditions are: Rename AIVM the All India Lingayat-Veershaiva Mahasabha; make JD(S) MLC Basavaraj Horatti the state president of the forum; Congress MLA MB Patil should be an office-bearer and given a prominent post at the national level in the forum.
‘Jaamdar has all powers to mediate’
Congress MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa must continue to remain national president,” Jaamdar said. The former IAS officer said mediators from the Mahasabha had approached the forum for talks.
MB Patil, who is still peeved at being denied a ministerial berth in the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, said Jaamdar has been given “all powers” to speak on behalf of the community. “He is wellversed with the Lingayat community’s history and is the spearhead of the movement. The forum will take a decision based on his inputs,” Patil said.
However, the Lingayat forum insisted talks are still at a nascent level. Horatti claimed talks have not been officially communicated to the forum and a lot still needs to be done. “We cannot comment on talks as the Mahasabha has not formally approached the forum. We will wait and watch,” Horatti said.
Mahasabha vice-president N Thippanna has reportedly been holding backroom parleys with Jaamdar to bring the two groups under the same fold.
Reacting to the possibility of the talks, Shivashankarappa has welcomed the decision, but in the same vein criticised Jaamdar for “breaking the community”. “There cannot be any conditions to the talks. The former bureaucrat (Jaamdar), who worked under us previously, has done nothing for the community and now claims to be a Lingayat. What has he done (for the community)?”