Belagavi: Yeddyurappa could not become the Chief Minister despite being the single largest party in the Assembly elections, said Dr. Siddharama Swamiji of the Nagnur Rudraxi Math at a felicitation event held at the Gandhi Bhavan on Sunday, June 24.
The event was jointly organised by the Lingayat Mahasabha and the Rashtriya Basavsa Sena for nine newly elected MLAs of the Lingayat community. Only two of the nine MLAs, Laxmi Hebbalkar and Mahantesh Koujalagi showed up for the event.
While addressing the gathering at the event, the seer said that former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa lost power in the state because he did not support the movement for a separate religion status for the Lingayat community. “The BJP could have retained their power if only they had openly supported our fight,” he opined.
He added that BSY’s denial to support the community’s fight for a separate religion status directly impacted the results of the recently held Assembly elections. “He was able to become the Chief Minister in 2008 only because the Lingayats supported him. If he had supported us in our fight for a separate religion, more than fifteen BJP MLA candidates could have won in the Assembly elections and Yeddyurappa would have become the CM. The Congress was able to win 78 seats because they supported the Lingayats,” the seer added.
The event was attended by over 20 seers from various Maths, several of whom spoke on the occasion.
