Daijiworld Media Network - Vijayapura
Vijayapura, April 19: Minister for Large and Medium Industries M B Patil on Saturday asserted that all seven Cabinet ministers from the Lingayat community stand united on the matter of the caste census report.
Addressing the media in Vijayapura, minister Patil said, “All seven ministers from the Lingayat community — Eshwar Khandre, Sharan Prakash Patil, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Sharanbasappa Darshanapur, Shivanand Patil, H K Patil, and myself — met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, held discussions, and then attended the special Cabinet meeting on April 17 to deliberate on the caste census report.”
“We will meet the chief minister again and place our demands before him regarding the caste census. There is no difference among us. We are united,” he stated firmly.
When asked about reported arguments between himself and ministers Shivanand Patil and Eshwar Khandre, he responded, “Let me clarify — we all met before the special Cabinet meeting and discussed the census report, raised our concerns, and spoke about the way forward. We are united. The discussion is being blown out of proportion.”
He emphasised that it was a minor disagreement, adding, “minister Shivanand Patil pointed out that the Congress party had suffered a setback when it earlier proposed a separate religion for Lingayats.”
However, CM Siddaramaiah had quickly intervened, clarifying that this was not the case. “The CM said if that had been the case, how could I have won with such a big margin?” Patil recalled.
“The CM mentioned I was elected with a margin of 30,000 votes,” he added.
“You (media) are aware that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and several prominent seers campaigned against me in my constituency. Despite that, I won,” he claimed.
Minister Eshwar Khandre admitted that the issue had caused a setback to the party. “I asked why another leader from our community, who had opposed the proposal for a separate Lingayat religion and participated in protests, ended up losing. The matter ended there. It was just a 60-second spark,” he explained.
In response to State BJP president B Y Vijayendra’s criticism of the caste census, Minister Patil noted that when Vijayendra’s father, B S Yediyurappa, was chief minister, some sub-castes were added to Category 3B and then removed within a month. “We know their history,” he remarked.
Reacting to Vijayendra’s claim that the caste census report would not be implemented even after four years, Patil replied, “Vijayendra is not the high command of the Congress party. Ask MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal — he will tell you more about Vijayendra.”
It may be recalled that Yatnal was expelled from the BJP for consistently criticising Vijayendra.
When asked about BJP MLA and former chief minister Jagadish Shettar’s statement that the Congress government would fall in November, minister Patil questioned Shettar’s political credibility.
“What is his situation now? He couldn’t even secure a ticket for the Assembly election as a former chief minister in the BJP. We welcomed him into our party, gave him a ticket to contest, and after his defeat, we made him an MLC. Then he returned to the BJP,” he stated.
Commenting on the recent sacred thread (janivara) removal controversy during CET exams, he said, “Whoever was responsible for not allowing students to wear the sacred thread to exams acted on personal bias. We strongly condemn this. Strict action will be taken against the individual. No particular religion or community should be targeted — it is a serious mistake. Along with action against the staffer, I urge the concerned minister to rectify the injustice done to the student.”