Congress to go for Lingayat Dy CM

Bengaluru: Congress legislators and leaders on Sunday deliberated at length on the creation of two deputy chief minister (DCM) posts in order to placate the dominant Lingayat community in the state to which BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa who made his exit from power on Saturday belongs.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior party leader, "It is almost certain that Dr Parameshwara, a dalit leader and the KPCC president will be the DCM and is most likely to be sworn-in along with Mr Kumaraswamy on May 23 itself. But after dislodging Lingayat strongman Yeddyurappa from the CM post, the party is now looking to placate the Lingayat community by offering the second DCM post to the Lingayats.”

According to the source, the party cannot afford to antagonise Lingayats after its gambit of offering separate religion status to the community backfired badly though as many as 17 Lingayats won MLA seats. “All of them are from the north-Karnataka region, which sends about 110 MLAs,” the source said.