Bengaluru, Feb 29: A Lingayat seer on Friday threatened to get 10 BJP MLAs to quit if Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa does not make MLA Dattatreya Patil Revoor a minister soon.
"If Yediyurappa does not make BJP's Gulbarga South MLA Dattatreya Patil Revoor a minister, I will get 10 ruling party legislators resign and reduce the government to a minority, forcing the Chief Minister to resign," said Srishaila Saranga mutt seer Deshikendra Swami at a meeting in Kalaburagi on Friday.
Addressing a gathering of the Lingayat community, to which Revoor belongs, the seer said although he wanted Yediyurappa to complete the remaining 3-year term in office and the BJP to return to power after the next elections, it would be difficult for Yediyurappa to continue if Revoor is not made a minister.
"Yediyurappa will be in office for the next three years if he makes Revoor minister. If not, I will ask him (latter) also to resign, as does not need to be in politics anymore because he has a house, many acres of agricultural land and is very rich," the seer told the gathering in Kannada.
In his nomination to contest in the May 2018 assembly elections, Revoor (37) declared in an affidavit Rs 17-crore assets, including immovable properties.
Wishing Yediyurappa to remain in office for the next three years and return as Chief Minister, the seer said if Yediyurappa is forced to quit, then the Lingayat community would not get an opportunity to have its leader as Chief Minister again for at least 30 years.
Yediyurappa, whose constituency is Shikaripura in Shivamogga district, is considered the tallest Lingayat leader of the politically powerful community, which accounts for 18% of the 6.5-crore state's population.
Though a dozen BJP legislators won from the erstwhile Hyderabad-Karnataka region in the May 2018 Assembly elections, only Prabhu Chauhan from the adjacent Bidar district was made minister for animal husbandry.
The Saranga mutt seer’s threat comes a month after Veerashaiva Lingayat Panchamasali seer Swami Vachananda, dared Yediyurappa to make 3 of the community legislators ministers ahead of the second cabinet expansion on February 6.
At a Lingayat gathering in the state's Davengere district on January 15, Vachananda told Yediyurappa to make party's Bilgi legislator Murgesh Nirani Minister, failing which the community would withdraw its support to the ruling party.
Hiryur is about 300km northwest of the southern state's capital Bengaluru.
Ticking off the young seer, a defiant Yediyurappa, however, threatened to walk out of the meeting if he was blackmailed for making Lingayat MLAs ministers.
"You cannot threaten me saying your sub-sect (Veera Shaiva) community would not support the BJP in the next assembly or Lok Saba elections, due in 2023 and 2024," retorted Yediyurappa, reasserting his status as the community's strongman in the state.
In the second cabinet expansion, only 10 newly elected legislators who defected from the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) were made ministers, leaving 6 posts vacant in the 34-member ministry.
In the first cabinet expansion on August 20, 2019, 17 party legislators were made ministers. Nirani and others, who were present on the dais, pacified Yediyurappa to take his seat and requested the seer to avoid making political speech on such occasions.
"The chief minister threatened to resign than succumb to pressures from religious or community followers," a party official told media.
Comments
Cheering PAK against india is wrong. But Anyone can celebrate any team. There is no law.
@milan u sound like, terrorism is wrong, but anyone can be terrorists. there is no law. :P
shame on jihadist muslims who back stab our motherland , shameless beggars .kick them out of india or hack them .
How cheering for Pakistan Cricket Team is wrong? Can we then support England team when the British had ruled and looted India for 200 years? There are numerous England supporters in India but no one is against them! Can we support France in football when French had looted and invaded India? Why do Indians support Brazil or France or Germany in FIFA when Indian team is not playing in it? Indians only need to support Kabbadi instead... Come on guys, just keep aside your enemity atleast in sports.. Support whichever team you like..
They should not have celebrated Pak win openly...if at their home does not matter but not openly....their soldiers are killing our innocent soldiers....
Cheering for a team of enemy country, Celebrating the victory of enemy country against our own country is not at all justified. We all Indians should be ONE against such country in any activity. There is hard feeling or soft feeling PERIOD.
Are we going to celebrate victory of Bangladesh against India??? No one does that. Then, why Pakistan???
Some fools are celebrating pakistan victory and saffron b.fools are exaggerating it for political mileage
Its proved many times who z bloody anti nationalists , when rama sena hoisted pakistan flag in Sindagi, Mutalik gang s bomb blast in hubballi court , ABVP s Pakistan zindabad @ JNU and now one more allegation, grow up sangis this style bcom old
Soon after the match many of Indian team players wholeheartedly congratulated Pakistani team and shook hands with them. Are Indian team players also anti-nationals? Do they also face sedition case?
Good point Rajan Shetty. Keep commenting. Silence of nationalists will encourage anti-nationals.
These gandutva guys have a very little heart
Whole cricket team of india should be in jail including gavaskar and gambhir . They congratulated Pakistan and praised them...
Actually the fact is ...this is the result of Media propaganda by RSS since many years ......................they were taunting Muslim youths telling Pakistan which they have no connection and bond is real friend......then simply youths started to anger the Saffronists by supporting pakistan verbally ....but some youth still using the same tactic to anger RSS ...but Rss a anti national organization uses the same to polarize ...unlike RAMA SENE which hoisted Pakistan Flag in Sindhagi ...is out of the talk now ????????????
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