Shamanur Shivashankarappa raises Lingayat CM issue, says community is distraught under CM Siddaramiah’s rule

Bengaluru: Senior Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa said that Lingayats are distraught under the rule of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

“The community was better off during the tenure of late chief ministers Nijalingappa and J.H. Patel. Now our community is distraught,” he said.

Shivashankarappa, who is also the President of All India Veerashaiva Lingayat Mahasabha, raised his voice for appointing a Lingayat Chief Minister and said that nothing could be gained from the Deputy Chief Minister’s post.

Further, he alleged that Lingayat officers are not considered for the prominent posts.

He maintained that during the Veerashaiva Mahasabha programme recently held in Bengaluru, he had spoken about that how important posts are not given to Lingayats. “I have not discussed this with ministers. What can we do with the Deputy Chief Minister’s post, if consideration is made, our demand is for the Chief Minister’s post,” he said.

The demand from the 92-year-old leaders from the Lingayat community, one of the most senior persons from the central Karnataka region, alleged running a republic in Davanagere region has put the state Congress in a fix.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s loyal ministers are batting for the creation of more Deputy Chief Minister posts while the Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar camp Congress leader B.K. Hariprasad is against Siddaramaiah and raised his concerns for Dalit chief minister for the state.

(With IANS inputs)