Hubballi: Having wooed the Lingayats, BJP national president, Amit Shah, plans to now visit Shivayogi Mandir in Badami taluk of Bagalkot, the power centre of the Veerashaivas that trains and educates its seers, on Tuesday in a fine balancing act to pacify both factions ahead of the coming assembly poll.
With the Congress having played its smart card by recommending an independent religious status for Lingayats tothe Centre, Mr Shah is doing all he can to win over both the Lingayats and Veerashaivas without giving away the Centre's own take on the issue although the RSS and BJP have made their displeasure on the issue in the past.
A few days after visiting the prominent Taralabalu and Muruga mutts of Chitradurga district that back independent religion status for Lingayats, the BJP leader will now meet over 200 Veerashaiva seers, who are vehemently against division of the community at the Shivayogi Mandir.
Established by Hanagal Kumara Swami in 1909, the century old mutt sees Veerashaiva seers arriving every month to chalk out their strategyagainst the move to divide the community. Around a thousand seers held a mammoth rally at the Mandir a few months ago as a protest and now all these seers, including heads of the pancha peethas hope to meet Mr Shah to exert pressure on him not to accord minority status to Lingayats. The seers reportedly plan to submit historical records to him to prove that both Veerashaiva and Lingayats are one and the same.
