After receiving a cold response for their demand to seek the post of the president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), the Lingayat leaders in the party are now lobbying hard for party tickets and other plum posts for their community members.
The Veerashaiva leaders in the state led by the KPCC treasurer Shamanur Shivashankarappa were urging the central party leaders for the KPCC president post by replacing the incumbent Dr G Parameshwar who is a Dalit.
The lobbying for the post got bolstered when party supremo Sonia Gandhi made a one-day whirlwind tour to the drought-hit areas in the state in April and met Shivakumara Swamij of the Siddaganga mutt in Tumkur, who wields enormous influence among the community in the state.
Following this, the important Lingayats in state Congress held several rounds of meetings of MLAs, District Congress Committee presidents and others to press for their demand.
The dream for getting plum post of the KPCC for Lingayats got wings when All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Rahul Gandhi summoned several Lingayat leaders, MLAs and others to New Delhi and hold parleys with them to strengthen the party organisation in the state in view of the upcoming elections.
The Congress had given party tickets to as many as 46 Lingayat candidates in the 2008 Assembly elections.
As many as 17 nominees won the seats and two of them deserted the party.
The state BJP turned north Karnataka region where Lingayats forms majority as its bastion.
The regions include Belgaum, Bijapur, Bhagalkot, Dharwad, Gulbarga, Bidar, Raichur, Haveri, Bellary and Gadag.
Taking note of the importance of the Lingayat community, the central party leaders accommodated several of the leaders in the KPCC, including Malaka Reddy (KPCC vice president), Shamanur Shivashankarappa (treasurer), S R Patil (Opposition leader in the Legislative Council).
In view of the upcoming Assembly elections, the AICC leaders are reportedly averse to replace Dr Parameshwar and may dole out the campaign committee chairman post.
Realising that the party high command is no longer interested in replacing the KPCC president, the Lingayat leaders had deferred their plan to take a group of Lingayat leaders and meet Sonia Gandhi.
“The demand for change of guard for the KPCC was in the cards when Dr Parameshwar had faced the wrath of the AICC for the defeat of one of the party’s nominee in the recently held elections to the Council.
But that has now died down,” a Congress leader said on conditions of anonymity.
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