BENGALURU: The Congress, which had made a big noise over the BJP letting down Veerashaiva Lingayats and ousting community leader B S Yediyurappa from the chief minister’s post in the run-up to the May 2023 assembly polls, is now being accused of ignoring the community’s bureaucrats and not giving them suitable postings.
Veteran Congress leader and All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha president Shamanur Shivashankarappa raised the issue recently, creating ripples in political circles. At a community event, he observed that whenever Lingayats were chief ministers -- S Nijalingappa, B S Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai -- bureaucrats from the community got plum postings, but are getting a raw deal in the Siddaramaiah government. He cited the lack of unity among sub-castes as the reason. But Siddaramaiah denied it, saying no community is getting a raw deal.
Yediyurappa and his son B Y Vijayendra have backed Shamanur. “Shamanur said the community’s officers got a raw deal in postings, which is a reality. The solution is for the community to take it up unitedly. I urge all leaders to work in this regard,” Yediyurappa told reporters in New Delhi on Sunday. “The Congress leader revealed how the system is becoming rotten, with caste being preferred while giving postings. It is unconstitutional. Shamanur is honest and raised his voice for justice,” remarked Vijayendra. Interestingly, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar suggested that Shamanur should sit with Siddaramaiah and set the issue right. “As president of a community, he has information about postings of officers. The government cannot give posts on the basis of caste. The CM is trying to balance everyone,” he said.
He suggested that ministers should strike a social engineering balance while giving postings. “This has been happening. Shamanur is a party leader and there is pressure on him. Some officers have requested ministers for postings. There is nothing wrong in it,” he observed. “We respect the feelings of Shamanur Appaji, and we seven Lingayat ministers in the cabinet will discuss it,” said Women and Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar.
Meanwhile, there are murmurs that a Veerashaiva Lingayat leader should be made chief minister, with a community leader insisting that former chief minister Jagadish Shettar be given the DyCM post. But former minister H Vishwanath condemned Shamanur for “speaking like a community representative”. “There are seven Veerashaiva Lingayat ministers. Let them get a majority of the community’s votes and become chief minister. This time, it is because of Siddaramaiah’ leadership,” he told reporters in Belagavi.