Ministers have taken up Lingayat issue neglecting their duties: Jagadish Shettar

Criticising ministers Vinay Kulkarni and M B Patil for leading the struggle to get independent religion status for Lingayatism, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar said, "they are not doing the work for which they are made the ministers. If they want to do the work which is meant for seers, then they have to resign as ministers first".

He told media persons here on Thursday that Mr Kulkarni and Mr Patil are raising the separate Lingayat religion issue as per the direct direction from Chief Minister Siddarmaiah, to divide the society in the background of the coming Assembly elections.

"We should leave the issue of Lingayat religion to seers and senior leaders of the community. Mr Vinay Kulkarni did not attend the function to release a postage stamp on Sri Hangal Kumar Swamiji but is now speaking about Lingayat separate religion.

The ministers have a lot of work to do, but they have taken up Lingayat issue, neglecting their duties as ministers. They want to divide the society before the elections, as Mr Siddaramaiah is afraid of BS Yeddyurappa becoming the next chief minister," Mr Shettar opined.

CM blamed
Mr Shettar charged that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is a tool in the hands of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and he is trying to use it to conduct raids on Income Tax Department officials, just as a face-saving exercise.

Mr Siddaramaiah is being haunted by the fear of defeat in next Assembly elections. Corruption is rampant in the government, and IT raids on the residence of Energy Minister D K Shivakumar could not be digested by him. Therefore, he has ordered the AB to conduct a raid on IT officials, Mr Shettar charged, adding that the tender process for health cards was cancelled only after he raised the issue of corruption involved in that.

Hindu workers are being assaulted or murdered in the State. BJP has already started a struggle against such acts in Kerala, and a similar struggle would be planned in Karnataka also, he said.

'Sinha has no work'
Some senior BJP leaders including Yashwanth Sinha are 'disgruntled souls', and therefore they are criticising the economic policies of the NDA government. They are seniors, but they could not get a position in the government. As they have no other work to do, they are trying to find errors in the NDA administration, Mr Shettar added.