Mahasabha wants Deputy CM for Lingayats

Bengaluru: Office-bearers of the Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha (ABVM), the apex body of the Lingayat-Veerashaivas, the dominant community in Karnataka,  who met here on Friday, reportedly pulled up ABVM president, Shamanoor Shivashankarappa and other Lingayat MLAs of the Congress party for not being able to secure a good deal for the community during cabinet formation. 

They insisted that the community should start lobbying for the creation of one more Dy CM post in which a Lingayat leader can be accommodated, a source privy to the discussion said.

The contention of the ABVM office bearers is that when former CM and BJP state president B.S. Yeddyurappa, a Lingayat himself, sought a trust vote last month, the Lingayat pontiffs pressurised Lingayat MLAs in the Congress to abstain from voting against the motion to ensure the victory of the Yeddyurappa government. 

However, these MLAs stood by the Congress party leading to fall of the Yeddyurappa government and the subsequent formation of a JD(S)-Congress coalition government.

But, after cabinet formation, the Lingayats  got a raw deal with ABVM president Shamanoor,  who was tipped to become Dy CM, sidelined and another office bearer, Eshwar Khandre too not considered for a cabinet post. 

This has irked the ABVM which has told the leaders to intensify lobbying and not settle for anything less than the DY CM post, sources said.