Shankar Munavalli tells Karnataka CM to warn Shamanur Shivashankarappa

Belagavi: Senior Congress leader , Shankar Munavalli has urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to warn party veteran, Shamanur Shivashankarappa against threatening Lingayat leaders and ministers, who want a separate religious tag for the community.

Objecting to Mr Shivashanakrappa's continued opposition to the stand of Lingayat leaders on the issue of religion, he deplored that he had done nothing for the community or society as a whole but only worked for the growth of his own educational institutions. "He has never bothered to help anybody despite being a legislator for many years. Neither have the Lingayats nor Veerashaivas ever benefitted from him," Mr Munavalli charged.

Calling Mr Shivashankarappa's threats to Water Resources Minister, M B Patil on the issue of a separate religious tag for Lingayats unfortunate, he said nobody cared about such hollow threats and dared him to touch any of the community's leaders. "When Lingayats, who have not been united for centuries , have come together on one platform to demand their rights and started a movement for a separate religious tag, what has provoked Shamanur to speak out against them?" he wondered, regretting that instead of respecting all Lingayat seers and political leaders who had joined hands for a good cause, Mr Shivashankarappa was issuing them threats.

"Does Shamanur even have an idea about how many Lingayat sub-castes there are in the state and what their problems are ?" he asked caustically.