BJP president Amit Shah recently stated that the Siddaramaiah government’s move to grant separate religious minority status to Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats was to prevent B S Yeddyurappa from becoming Chief Minister.
He asserted, “The Siddaramaiah government has brought this proposal, not because it has love for Lingayats, but to prevent Yeddyurappa from becoming Chief Minister.”
Shah added, “I want to tell Karnataka people that if BJP wins a majority, we will make Yeddyurappa chief minister.”
The state cabinet recently decided to recommend to the Centre to accord religious minority status to Lingayats and Veerashaiva Lingayats. The move was seen by many as an attempt to chip away at the BJP's Lingayat voter base.
He opined that Congress president Rahul Gandhi should first point fingers at Siddaramaiah for dividing people before accusing BJP of it and he further compared Siddaramiah's divide-and-rule politics to that of the British.
He stated, “The Siddaramaiah government has proposed to accord religion and minority status to Lingayats, but why did it not do it earlier? Because that time, there was no need for gaining votes.”
