Karnataka Cabinet to make a decision on Panchamasali quota demand?

The Karnataka Cabinet meeting scheduled on Thursday is surrounded by speculation that the BJP government might bite the bullet and decide on the Panchamasali Lingayats’ demand for higher reservation, which will be a big move ahead of the Assembly polls next year.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s Cabinet will meet even as the Panchamasali Lingayats have planned a massive show of strength with a big convention in Belagavi on Thursday.

“We have confidence in the government. Certainly, our reservation will be announced. Bommai will make a historic decision,” Bijapur City BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, who is spearheading the Panchamasali Lingayat demand, said.

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The Panchamasali Lingayats are a sub-sect of the Veerashaiva-Lingayats, who are seen as the BJP’s core support base. The saffron party is said to be dependent on the Panchamasali votes in the Kittur Karnataka region.

At present, the Veerashaiva-Lingayats get 5 per cent reservation under Category 3B. The Panchamasalis, who claim to be the numerically-stronger sub-sect, want to be moved to Category 2A that has 15 per cent reservation.

There is little clarity on how the government would possibly do this without altering political equations. Category 2A already has 102 castes sharing 15 per cent reservation and they are likely to go up in arms if the Panchamasalis are put in the same basket with them. For the ruling BJP, however, upsetting the Panchamasalis might cause a split in the community, which could be disadvantageous with Assembly elections five months away.

Not ruling out the possibility of the Cabinet taking a decision, a minister said the government might rejig the existing OBC reservation to meet the Panchamasalis’ demand.