Mallikarjun takes a dig at Home minister Patil

Former minister S S Mallikarjun on Wednesday took to task Home Minister M B Patil, who spearheaded the movement for separate religion to Lingayat community, at his residence here.

“We have been relegated to the background, now. I have lost Assembly elections. Just because you are a minister, you cannot spread lies... what do you know about us,” Mallikarjun told Patil, who was at Shamnur Shivashankarappa’s residence for lunch.

The minister swung into damage control mode saying that he and Mallikarjun are friends. “Mallikarjun and I are friends. We are like brothers. We always speak like that.” Patil said.

After receiving felicitation from Jagatika Lingayat Mahasabha, the minister said that he had suffered for spearheading Lingayat movement. “It is nothing before the pain and humiliation endured by Basavanna in the 12th century. I couldn’t get minister post for six months. Lingayat dharma was not established by M B Patil or Jamdar or Vinay Kulkarni. It was established by Basavanna in the 12th century. We only tried to uphold the dharma. Our fight is not against anybody,” Patil said.