Karnataka: Lingayats seek inclusion in central OBC quota, ask CM Siddaramaiah to junk caste census report
Lingayats, the state’s largest community at their convention at Davanagere on Sunday, passed a resolution urging chief minister Siddaramaiah to reject the caste census report, and order a fresh one in an apolitical gathering that included ministers, and both Congress and BJP MLAs.
The convention was chaired by All India Veerashaiva-Lingayat Mahasabha president Shamnur Shivashankarappa, a veteran Congress MLA. There were eight resolutions passed at the convention which included demands to include the community in the central OBC list.
The massive gathering urged the community members not to mention their community by the name of their sub-caste or as Hindu, but to record as Veerashaiva or Lingayat, seeking to assert a separate religious identity.
Former BJP CM Basavaraj Bommai and BJP state president BY Vijayendra attended the event.
The State Permanent Backward Classes Commission has prepared the caste census or socio-economic survey report and is waiting for a signal for the CM to submit it.
Lingayat-Veerashaivas are the politically influential caste group. They are said to have backed the Congress in the May 10 assembly polls helping it win a landslide.
Vokkaligas, the second largest community, have already petitioned the CM urging him not to accept the report, and the signatories include Deputy CM DK Shivakumar and Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy, besides some Congress MLAs.
Sections of OBC leaders, affiliated to the CM's camp, are planning a counter show in the neighbouring Chitradurga in January with a turnout bigger than the Lingayat convention. Since Siddaramaiah is also a champion of minorities, backward classes and dalits (Ainda), they estimate that these caste groups together are far larger in
