The Panchamasali Linagayat leaders, who are seeking reclassification of the subsect under 2A of OBC list for enhanced reservation in education and employment, on Thursday claimed at a massive rally in Belagavi that the State government would be accepting their demand on December 29. However, government sources said that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has sought about 10 days’ time to resolve the issue, after consultations.
Agitation suspended
The leaders said they had suspended their agitation based on the assurance given by Mr. Bommai of a “time-bound” fulfilment of their demand. The Panchamasali community had threatened to lay siege to the Suvarna Soudha on December 23 in Belagavi where the winter session is under way.
While the State Cabinet that met in Belagavi discussed the reservation issue informally, it is learnt that no decision was arrived at. Mr. Bommai is expected to travel to the national capital on Monday to consult senior party leaders and legal experts before taking a decision.
Earlier in the day, Chairman of the Karnataka Permanent Backward Classes Commission K. Jayaprakash Hegde submitted an interim report on claims of backward classes in reservation matters to the Chief Minister. Mr. Bommai also discussed the issue with a Panchamasali delegation that included senior community leaders Basannagouda Patil Yatnal, Murugesh Nirani and Ashokananda Kashappanavar, among others.
Panchamasali community is a numerically stronger sub-sect of Veerashaiva-Lingayat community that has remained the core vote bank for the BJP. They have been urging the government to move them from the 3B category, which has 5% reservation, to 2A category, which has 15% reservation. Sources said that the commission has recommended against the inclusion of the community under 2A category, but has suggested creation of a separate category to increase the quota.
Report submission comes at a time when several major caste groups, including Kurubas, Vokkaligas, and Marathas, are seeking change of category or increase in the reservation quota. Sources in the commission said that it is currently looking at such demands from 25 caste groups.
Meanwhile, at the Virata Panchama Shakthi Mahasamavesha chaired by the seer Basava Jaya Mruthyunjaya Swami, in the vicinity of the Survarna Soudha, leaders later in the evening claimed that the decision to provide higher reservation under category 2A would be announced on December 29 after the Cabinet meeting. Mr. Yatnal, who is spearheading the movement, told thousands of Panchamasalis who had gathered that they form 70% of the total Lingayat community.
‘If promise is not kept...’
Mr. Yatnal said: “The Chief Minister has sworn on his mother and God and I believe he will keep his word. In case, if it is not done, we will show him his place and work harder to send home in the next elections those who have worked against it.”
Mr. Kashappanavar pointed out that the demand has been there for 28 years, and time has now come for the community members to go to tahsildar’s office and seek 2A certificate.
A host of BJP and Congress leaders from the community, including Ministers C.C. Patil and Shankar Patil Munenakoppa, Rajya Sabha member Iranna Kadadi, legislators Mahantesh Dodagoudar, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, and Aravind Bellad were present at the rally.
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