Panchamasalis set to get 2A reservation, says MLA Yatnal

The Panchamasali Lingayat community wants to be included in category 2A (15%) of OBC reservation matrix. They are currently included under 3B (5%).

The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday is said to have informally discussed the demand for higher reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for the Panchamasali Lingayat community even as Panchamsali leader and BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal said that the state has “agreed to accord reservation to the community after the formalities are completed on December 29.”

Panchamasali Lingayat community leaders during their agitation for reservation, at Hirebagewadi in Belagavi (PTI)

The Panchamasali Lingayat community wants to be included in category 2A (15%) of OBC reservation matrix. They are currently included under 3B (5%).

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai is said to have sought time to take a decision on this issue after consulting legal experts and the BJP central leadership, according to officials in the know of the matter.

Announcing the decision at the Panchamsali’s ‘Panchashakti’ convention held at Kamakaratti village, 2km from the Suvarna Vidhan Soudha in Belagavi district on Thursday, Panchamsali Horata Samiti leader Yatnal said: “The government has agreed to accord the reservation on December 29 as it has to complete the formalities”.

After the committee on Permanent Backward Communities submitted its report to the government on Thursday morning, Bommai who got the synopsis, reportedly told the community leaders about according reservation. Committee chairman Jayaprakash Hegde presented the report to Bommai at Suvarna Soudha.

“Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has assured us about the contents of the committee report and told us about announcing the reservation as government had to complete its procedure,” the Vijayapur MLA said.

Yatnal said that the report has to be tabled during an all-party meeting and opinion of legal experts has to be taken for which the date was postponed to December 29.

However, Yatnal also said that “Panchamsalis will send Bommai and his team home if he does not keep his word”.

“Making the almighty as witness, Bommai gave us his word,” Yatnal said, adding that he told him that he will be “the last Lingayat chief minister to the state if he went back on the assurance”.

Earlier, Panchamsali Horata Samiti national president and former MLA Vijayanand Kashappanavar said the agitation was expected to get positive a response. “Don’t get disappointed for not getting reservation today, hope that the chief minister has agreed for the same. “You have will for what you are fighting for. Go peacefully. Very soon you will see 2A Reservation Certificates in the hands of your children,” Kashappanavar said.

Kudalasangama-based mutt seer Basava Jayamrutunjaya Swami, who has been leading the agitation for two years said that the community was disappointed after the chief minister skipped the dates of according the reservation five times. He appealed to the parents of the community to mention “Lingayat-Panchamasali” in the admission forms while admitting their children to schools.

Swami also asked the MLAs of the community to go to their respective constituencies to guard their seats in the next assembly and that he was there to look after the need and welfare of the community.