Panchamasali rift: Efforts on to iron out differences; meeting by warring factions called off

Even as leaders of Lingayat-Panchamasali community are divided over the issue of Panchamasali seer Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami’s open support to expelled BJP leader Basanagouda R. Patil Yatnal, the efforts being made by senior Lingayat l

Even as leaders of Lingayat-Panchamasali community are divided over the issue of Panchamasali seer Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami’s open support to expelled BJP leader Basanagouda R. Patil Yatnal, the efforts being made by senior Lingayat leaders to iron out differences seem to have yielded positive results.

Consequently both the meetings called by the warring factions within the community have been called off.

While the Akhila Bharat Lingayat Panchamasali Samaj Trust, now headed by former legislator Vijayanand Kashappanavar, had planned to hold meeting of Panchamasali legislators and leaders from of all political parties and elders of the community at Kudalasangama on Saturday, Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami had given a call to his devotees to assemble in Kudalasngama on Sunday for a meeting to deliberate on the issue.

Speaking to presspersons in Davangere, former MLA H.S. Shivashankar had said that they had requested both Vijayanand Kashappanavar and Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami to not go ahead with their plans of holding meetings in the overall interest of the community. He had also taken exception to Mr. Kashappanavar’s remarks on the seer and statement by various leaders on the issue, which ultimately, he said, had led to confusion among the community members.

On Thursday, Mr. Kashappanavar was named the new chairman of ‘Akhila Bharat Lingayat Panchamasali Samaj Trust’.

The members of the trust and senior leaders of the community who met in Hubballi on Thursday accepted the resignation of incumbent chairman Prabhanna Hunasikatti and unanimously elected Mr. Kashappanavar as the chairman.

Mr. Kashappanavar was openly critical of Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami’s stand on 2D reservation and had distanced himself from Panchamasali movement for reservation subsequently. The trust members’ decision to choose him was seen as a attempt to send a clear signal to the seer, who has been defending his stand on Mr Yatnal’s expulsion. Meanwhile Mr. Yatnal too had made allegations against the trust office-bearers.