Panchamasali Lingayats in Karnataka to restart stir for 2A category reservation

A prominent seer of the Panchamasali community, Jaya Mruthyunjaya Swami of Kudalasangama Peetha, has said that Panchamasali MLAs of both the Congress and the BJP are in favour of 2A category status. “All the MLAs from both the parties have always been in favour of reservation for our community,” he said. There are over 20 Panchamasali MLAs in the 224-member Assembly.

“The MLAs of both the ruling Congress and the BJP will raise the issue in the Assembly,” a Panchamasali Lingayat leader told The Indian Express. From the Congress, Vijayanand Kashapanavar will lead the demand and the BJP’s Arvind Bellad will also raise the issue, the leader said.

The Panchamasali Lingayats have been demanding special reservation for nearly a decade, citing social backwardness of the community. The former BJP government, which was in power in Karnataka till last year, had given them 2D category reservation after scrapping the quota for Muslims. This was challenged in the state’s High Court, which directed the government not to violate constitutionally provisioned reservations.

As the matter is currently under judicial review, the 150 Panchamasali lawyers have been brought in to fight for the community, a Panchamsali leader said. “Jaya Mruthyunjaya Swami has passed the baton to the lawyers as he thinks the matter will have to be fought out in the Supreme Court, if the government does not relent,” a source said. The Siddaramaiah government had asked for a year’s time to sort out the quota issue and its “time is up”, the Panchamasali leader said.

The Panchamsalis are an important voting bloc in Karnataka, forming about 80% of the politically powerful Lingayat caste group. Two chief ministers — BS Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai — were accused of not heeding to the community’s demand for 2A categorisation. Both faced electoral debacle in the state, with the BJP losing to the Congress by a huge margin in 2023.

“We trusted Siddaramaiah when he said the reservation issue will be sorted out within 18 months of assuming office. We are restarting the agitation to remind him of the promise,” the Lingayat leader said.

The Siddaramaiah camp is confident of “resolving” the crisis. Asked about the Panchamsalis’ demand, a Congress leader said, “We are looking into the reservation demand and will soon take a call on this.”