CM sets Cong on a collision course with Lingayats?

Wittingly or unwittingly, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has set the Congress on a collision course with the Lingayat community in Karnataka.

- RAMU PATIL

The Government's brash handling of the Panchamsali Lingayats' agitation and the community seer's call for intensifying the movement indicates that it could cause more bad blood.

The Panchamsali, a numerically strong sub-sect in the Lingayat community, is in the 3B OBC category with a 5% reservation in education and employment. They are demanding inclusion into the 2A category which would give them access to 15% reservation. Basava Jaya Mruthyunjaya Swami, head of Kudalasangama Panchamsali Peeta, is heading the movement.

Images of protesters bleeding after being caned by the police, who stopped them from entering the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha premises in Belagavi earlier this week, could haunt the Congress for a long time. As things stand now, it seems highly unlikely that there will be any drastic change in the way its leadership is handling the sensitive issue.

Indicating the government's stand on the issue, the CM termed the demand unconstitutional. Home Minister G Parameshwara defended the lathi charge and rejected the demand for a probe and action against police officials. The administration accused the protesters of pelting stones leaving many policemen injured.