Hubballi: The appointment of Mr Pratap Chandra Shetty as chairman of the Legislative Council has upset several Congress politicians and Lingayat leaders here, who see it as an injustice to North Karnataka. Hitting out at the government for not considering two prominent Lingayat leaders, Basavaraj Horatti and S R Patil for the post, they alleged it had once again proved that it favoured South Karnataka. Seeing that Mr Horatti and Mr Patil were both experienced leaders, they demanded that they should be given ministerial berths as compensation and to undo the injustice done to North Karnataka. The Congress leaders warned that if the two men were not adequately accommodated the party’s prospects in the region could suffer with the BJP already in a strong position in these parts. “Basavaraj Horatti has a good reputation in the region as he has been working for the welfare of the teachers’ community for nearly four decades and S R Patil has greatlu contributed to the co-operative and education sectors. If they
are not treated well , it will strengthen the feeling that the coalition government belongs to only South Karnataka as all prominent posts, including that of CM, Deputy CM and KPCC president have gone to leaders from that region”, said a former legislator and KPCC general secretary, S G Nanjayyanmath, who is a Lingayat himself. Former minister, Vinay Kulkarni, who led the movement for independent religion status for Lingayats, believes Mr Horatti has a good chance of being inducted into the Cabinet during the next reshuffle owing to his seniority.
