Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah on Monday asserted that the panel formed by him to look into the demands of the Lingayat community for a separate religion tag, did not have any member from the Congress party.

Forced on the backfoot following the charge by a host of seers from the Veerashaiva sect among the Lingayat community  on Sunday against  the newly formed committee, he said: “There is nobody from the Congress party in it.”

The seers and members of the Veerashaiva Mahasabha had charged that the committee did not have any constitutional validity and nor were the members equipped to look into  the controversial subject. More importantly, they alleged that some of the members who had been appointed on the committee were known to favour the Lingayat sect’s demand for a separate religion tag.

Under the circumstances, they could not accept the probe, one critic of the Siddaramiah government told The Statesman on Monday.

Siddaramiah, however, went on to maintain that the ruling Congress had no intention of splitting the dominant Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, a charge that his government is facing. The allegation assumes importance as the community is a known backer of the BJP, under its state leader and  party president BS Yeddyurappa, himself a Lingayat.

With elections to the Assembly barely a few months away, the Congress has been facing allegations that it is engineering a split in the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community. The term is used as a synonym even though the two sects follow different practices.

Explanations apart, the huge rally conducted by the Veerashaivas and the several hundred seers at Gadag on Sunday, including the panchpeetha, argued that it was virtually impossible to “accord a separate religion tag to the Lingayats.” This was based on their arguments that even though the Veerashaivas and Lingayats were seen as separate sects, they were part of the same religion. They did plumb for 15 per cent reservation for both though.

The seers said a few decades ago a similar attempt was made by former Karnataka Chief Minister Devaraj Urs to split the community. Considering the unanimity over the issue among the seers on Sunday, the possibility of a backlash from them during the forthcoming elections against the Congress cannot be ruled out, should the Siddaramiah government go ahead with its move to encourage a split in the community, if a prominent supporter is to be believed.

In fact, Basvaraj Horatti, JD-S leader, and Jamdar, former bureaucrat and supporter of the group demanding a separate religion tag for the Lingayats, told newsmen on Monday that the seven members who were chosen as members of the new committee were people of repute In any case, they said their recommendations would be studied by the cabinet before taking a call.

Last year, the Maharashtra government approved  the inclusion of ten sub-castes in the ‘Lingayat’ community in the OBC category, becoming perhaps the first to do so at the state level.  At the same time it recommended that the Centre grant minority status to the community.

Critics here maintain that that the possibility could always be explored in Karnataka  as well, if only to avoid a major controversy. They feel the state could grant minority status to the Lingayat sect within the powers that it has while seeking Centre’s nod for approval subsequently. The irony, however, is that both the Lingayats and Veerashaivas are seeking minority status which brings with it a host of benefits starting with no interference in the educational institutions that they run, among other things.

In fact, a few years ago, the Veerashaiva sect among the Lingayats too wanted to be treated as a separate community  and not as part of  the Hindus,a plea which was not considered by the Election Commission to whom the application was made.