Infighting in BJP intensifies amid row over Panchamasali reservation

Bengaluru The problems for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Karnataka government continued to pile up as legislators of the ruling party took on each other over the issue of changing the reservation category for the Panchamasali, one of the biggest subsects of the dominant and politically influential Lingayat community

Bengaluru

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The problems for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Karnataka government continued to pile up as legislators of the ruling party took on each other over the issue of changing the reservation category for the Panchamasali, one of the biggest subsects of the dominant and politically influential Lingayat community.

Basanagouda Ramangouda Patil (Yatnal) triggered the heated exchanges on Wednesday after he remarked that chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who had promised to give his response on the topic, had gone absconding.

“Yesterday the CM told us outside that I (CM) will give us an answer today. Today the CM has absconded,” Yatnal, a staunch critic of Yediyurappa, said in the Karnataka legislative assembly during the ongoing budget session.

“Let the CM tell us what he feels about our community,” he said.

Yatnal added that even the Congress’s leader of the opposition, Siddaramaiah, wanted to talk on the issue since he admired the community. “What about our CM’s love (for the community). He used the name of our community (Lingayats) and came to the chair (chief minister),” he said.

His statements triggered a sharp reaction from M.P. Renukacharya, the chief minister’s political secretary and BJP legislator from Honnali in Davangere district.

“The chief minister has not gone absconding. Whether it is Panchamasali, Veerashaiva, any of the subcastes or other scheduled castes or tribes… The CM has great respect for all of them. You shouldn’t talk like this,” he told Yatnal.

The infighting between the BJP gave the Congress a chance to sit and watch the bickering within the ruling party from the comfort of the opposition benches.

Basavaraj Bommai, Karnataka’s home, law and parliamentary affairs minister on Wednesday said the Supreme Court’s decision to examine if the 50% reservation cap should be reviewed was a “beacon”.

He said that after due consultations, Karnataka would also present its views before the apex court.

“In the case relating to reservation for the Maratha community, the Supreme Court’s constitution bench has sought views from all the states, it is kind of a beacon for us in resolving these issues,” Bommai said.

The statements come at a time when at least four dominant and politically influential communities have sought higher allocations of reservation and change of category among other requests.

The Panchamasalis, Vokkaligas, Valmikis and Kurubas have intensified their reservation-related demands, further adding to Yediyurappa’s troubles.

“To give them justice, everything has to be done under the provisions of the constitution and legal framework. As demands by various communities have come together, resolving it will lead to exceeding 50 per cent,” Bommai said.

Yediyurappa has formed a three-member committee to look into the reservation-related demands of various communities.

Unconvinced by Bommai’s response, Yatnal threatened to stage a protest inside the assembly.