Alleging that the decision by the Congress government in Karnataka to recommend to the Centre to grant ‘religious minority’ status for Lingayat/Veerashaivas was purely for elections, Bharatiya Janata Party national president Amit Shah predicted that the issue would lose steam after the Assembly elections.
Addressing a press conference in Davangere, Mr. Shah, who completed his two-day State tour, alleged that the Congress was trying to hoodwink Lingayats over the issue.
“The Veerashaiva/Lingayats will give a befitting reply to the misadventure of the Congress to create a rift in their community by voting against it in the Assembly elections,” he said. Mr. Shah said it was obvious that the sole intention of the Congress in raking up the issue was to prevent BJP State president and Lingayat leader B.S. Yeddyurappa from becoming Chief Minister.
The haste displayed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in forming an expert committee and in taking the decision to recommend the issue to the Centre proves that his intention was to reap electoral benefits by creating a rift in the community, he said.
Hinting that the BJP would project the issueas an effort by the Congress to divide Hindus, Mr. Shah said Mr. Siddaramaiah who projects himself as an Ahinda (Kannada acronym for Minorities, Backward Classes and Dalits) was actually a “Ahindu” (non-Hindu) leader.
Referring to the withdrawal of public notice issued by the Muzrai Department during the Congress rule seeking opinion on inclusion of Hindu mutts and temples under the ambit of the Religious Endowment Act, he said Mr. Siddaramaiah had repeatedly tried to encroach on the religious freedom of Hindus. The Congress leadership should prevent Mr. Siddaramaiah from indulging in such misadventures, he said.
‘No pre-poll understanding with JD(S)’
The Bharatiya Janata Party will not enter into any form of pre-poll understanding with the Janata Dal(Secular), said national president Amit Shah. Replying to a query from presspersons in Davangere on the allegation by Congress president Rahul Gandhi that the JD(S) was BJP’s ‘B team’, Mr. Shah said the BJP will field candidates in all 224 Assembly segments in Karnataka, and will not enter into any form of understanding with any political party, including the JD(S).
