Bengaluru: In yet another reminder of the hold religious leaders have over Karnataka politics, a Lingayat seer has threatened the BS Yediyurappa government that if an MLA from Gulbarga is not considered for a ministerial berth, he will get ten legislators to resign. The development comes barely a month after another Lingayat seer in Davangere district drew the chief minister's ire after recommending names for ministerial posts.
This time, it was Sarangadhara Deshikendra Swamiji, the seer of the Srishaila Saranga mutt, who was batting for Gulbarga MLA Dattatreya C Patil Revoor – also known as Appugouda Patil –, a 37-year-old two-time legislator.
“At this time, the CM will keep his post for three years. He has not given Appugouda Patil an opportunity to become a minister. If the CM goes back on his word, I will tell Appugouda to resign. He has his own home, so many acres of land, that's enough of politics,” the seer said on Friday.
Saying that he desires the BJP government to last the remaining three years of its term, as well as come back to power for another five years, the seer warned that if Yediyurappa loses his post now, there will be no opportunity for a Lingayat to come back as chief minister for at least 30 years.
“And it is our wish that he must continue for next five years after this three-year term – after all M Karunanidhi ran a government from hospital. But if he doesn't make Appugouda a minister within a year, I will get 10 MLAs from the Hyderabad-Karnataka region (north-east Karnataka) to resign. I have enough sway to ensure that,” he said.
Just in mid-January, another Lingayat seer, Vachanand Swami said at a public programme of the dominant community that if three members of the Panchamasali sub-sect sect are not made ministers, and if Bilgi MLA Murugesh Nirani is not among them, the CM would lose the support of the entire community. This community has been the biggest vote-base for the party over the last decade. A visibly shaken Yediyurappa had stood up from his seat on the dais and told the seer that he would leave the programme rather than be subject to such intimidation.
On Friday, the Srishaila mutt seer told the gathering that Appugouda Patil’s father Chandrashekhar Patil Revoor had dreamt of becoming a minister too, but had died without that wish coming true. However, the opportunity must not be lost to the family now, considering that the senior Revoor had sold his assets to build the party in the region almost 20 years ago, when nobody had heard of the BJP in Gulbarga, he said.
"My appeal is to the CM and the home minister, to R Ashok (revenue minister) and Govind Karjol (deputy CM). Make Appugouda a minister or something else will start again, I'm warning the government,” he said.
The Yediyurappa government took oath of office in July 2019, after the BJP effected a defection of 17 MLAs from the Congress and the JD(S) to bring down the strength of the assembly so that the saffron party got majority. Subsequently, many of these legislators were elected to the assembly on a BJP ticket in December.
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