Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru (DC)

Bengaluru, Oct 19: Former minister and senior Congress leader M B Patil on Thursday rejected his party colleague D K Shivakumar's claims that decision on Lingayat movement had led to party's defeat in the assembly polls.

Speaking to reporters, Patil said, “There is no question of the government interfering in religious matters. So, there is no question of apologizing. To publicly apologize for something that did not happen was not right."

"Siddaramaiah government did not interfere in separate religion tag to Lingayats. It was a long-pending demand and the report lies with the centre now," he said backing then state government led by Siddaramaiah.

He further said that the Congress was defeated in coastal Karnataka and those places where Okkaligas were in large number. "Congress did not suffer setback in Lingayat-based districts," he said.

Earlier D K Shivakumar at an event organized by prominent Veerashaiva seers in Gadag had said that the government and politicians should not interfere in matters of religion and caste. “Several ministers said many things, but there is no bigger testament to the fact than the people’s verdict recently."

The movement was led by Patil and prompted then chief minister Siddaramaiah to accord the community with a minority tag a demand that was over a century old. However, the decision led to huge uproar with the BJP accusing the state government of dividing the society.