Congress Leader Siddaramaiah's 'Corrupt Lingayat CM' Remark Sparks Row

Siddaramaiah reportedly said that, “There’s already a Lingayat chief minister (Basavaraj Bommai). He’s the root of all the corruption in the state,” in response to a question on the BJP’s stance that a Lingayat should be the next chief minister.

Bommai in response said, "I didn’t expect such a statement from Siddaramaiah about a Lingayat CM. He is a senior leader. He has given a statement that triggers the Lingayat community. It is wrong to call the Lingayat community itself corrupt. The people will teach them (Congress) a proper lesson.”

BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya took to Twitter to say, "Earlier Congress tried to break the Veerashaiva Lingayat community. 7 crore Kannadigas, who follow the ideals of Jagadguru Basavanna, will soon respond to him and the Congress."

Siddaramaiah issued a clarification stating that his remarks only referred to Bommai and that BJP has "twisted and misinterpreted" his remark.

"My comments referred only to Bommai. I only said Basavaraj Bommai alone is corrupt. I did not say Lingayats are corrupt. Therefore, making such a sweeping report is inappropriate. There have been very honest Lingayat chief ministers. There was S Nijalingappa, Virendra Patil and others for whom I have a lot of respect as they were very honest chief ministers. My comments have been twisted and misinterpreted by the BJP," he said, NDTV reported.

According to reports, of the 224 assembly constituencies in the state, as many as 100 are said to be dominated by the Lingayat community, mostly situated in north Karnataka. The community has been a strong vote-base for the BJP in the past.

However, it has been raining resignations in the state BJP unit after many veterans didn’t feature in the party’s candidates list for the upcoming assembly elections. Among those who quit are prominent Lingayat leaders Jagadish Shettar and Laxman Savadi who have now joined the Congress.