Panchamasali quota committee to hold meeting of all Lingayat legislators during winter session in Belagavi

Lingayat legislators to meet in Belagavi Dec 5 to press for demands for inclusion in Central OBCs list & re-categorise Panchamasalis into Category 2A. Protest rallies & conventions to be held if demands not met. Some legislators offered to resign, seer counselled them to fight for cause.

The Panchamasali Lingayat Reservation Agitation Committee will convene a meeting of all Lingayat legislators in Belagavi on December 5, to press for its demands for including all Lingayat sub-caste groups in the Central OBCs list and to re-categorise Panchamasalis into Category 2A.

“We are inviting Lingayat MLAs and MLCs from all parties for the meeting,” convenor and committee president Sri Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami told journalists in Belalgavi on Thursday.

The seer said that the Siddaramaiah government has not kept its promise made to the committee.

“The Chief Minister then told us that he will resolve the issue after seeking a report from the Backward Classes commission. Till date, he has not sent any instructions to the commission,” he said.

He said he has requested five Ministers to convince Mr. Siddaramaiah to attend the meeting.

He said that the former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has betrayed the trust the committee placed in him. The seer said that Mr. Bommai did not fulfil the committee’s demand despite a solemn promise.

To a query, the seer said that he did not see any clash of interest between Panchamasalis seeking re-categorisation into 2A and Lingayats seeking inclusion in the Central OBCs list.