Many BJP Lingayat leaders willing to join Congress: Karnataka party chief DK Shivakumar
Attacking the Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa-led government in Karnataka, he said there is an instability in the Karnataka state government for the last one year and it is hampering the administration.
FollowResponding to a query on Congress leader MB Patil’s attempts to bring Lingayat leaders from the BJP into the Congress fold, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar on Saturday claimed that many Lingayat leaders belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party are ready to join the Congress party.
Briefing reporters here, Shivakumar said, "Lot of Lingayat leaders and workers in BJP are keen to turn the face towards Congress. MB Patil and SR Patil moved in a separate path to attract the BJP leaders and workers to the Congress party. Eshwar Khandre is also a dominant Congress leader and is also Lingayat. The BJP has a misconception that it has a complete hold over the Lingayat community, but it is not true."
Attacking the Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa-led government in Karnataka, he said there is an instability in the Karnataka state government for the last one year and it is hampering the administration.
Chief Whip of Opposition in the Assembly Ajay Singh, former Minister Sharan Prakash Patil, party leaders Tip Ponnappa Kamakanur, Allamprabhu Patil, Jagadev Guttedar, Sharanu Modi, and others were present.
The Lingayat community holds around 17 to 22% of the state's population, which plays a major role in making and breaking of a government. Lingayat voters hold sway in as many as 100 Assembly constituencies in north Karnataka. 58 MLAs belonging to the Lingayat community were elected in the present Assembly--38 MLAs among them belong to the BJP.
The former state minister also criticized the BJP government for not assisting those people who were severely affected by Covid-19. He said that though the government has announced some compensation after Congress exerted pressure, the relief is yet to reach the beneficiaries.
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