Rape accused Lingayat seer leaves Karnataka political parties in a fix

Vibha Sharma

New Delhi, September 2

Rape accused Lingayat seer has left most political parties in poll-bound Karnataka in a fix with leaders, who would otherwise have been down at rivals throat on an opportunity like this, preferring to practice either the art of silence or offering carefully worded responses.

Ever since Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, the pontiff of prominent Lingayat Muragharajendra mutt in Chitradurga district, was booked on charges of sexual assault of two teen-aged girls, the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress and JD-S leaders have been cautiously guarded despite an FIR under the stringent provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against him.

In fact, no opposition leader questioned the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government over the delay in police action against the seer accused of sexually assaulting the two girls for the past three years. While Bommai said “investigation will be done impartially to reveal the truth”, BJP’s top Lingayat leader, BS Yediyurappa, supported Shivamurthy terming as “false” the allegations against him.

Among the ones to come out with reactions of some substance in the initial stages was BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Lahar Singh Siroya who described the allegations “extremely shocking”.

“As a society we owe it to ourselves that these allegations are probed thoroughly,” he was quoted as saying while BJP MLC H Vishwanath openly slammed the party-led government for its handling the POCSO case against the rape-accused Lingayat seer.

Notably, top Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar, who would have jumped at the saffron party accusing it “protecting an alleged rapist” too have been careful in words and the reason is the powerful Lingayat community which the seer represents.

Today, though, Siddhamaiah tweeted calling as “serious” the allegations against Chitradurga Muruga Mutt Swamiji.

“The police should carry out impartial investigation based on the complaint filed by the girls and reveal the truth,” the former CM said.

The community constitutes around 16 to 17 percent of the population of the state where Assembly elections are due in around eight months.

The buzz is Lingayats are upset with the Congress, a reason why Shivakumar had taken Rahul Gandhi to the Murugharajendra mutt for a ‘diksha’ ceremony by the same seer a few days back.

As far as BJP is concerned, ever since Yediyurappa took the centre-stage in state politics, he has ensured backing from the community in elections. The performance of the BJP (25 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats) was also credited to this very factor.

Sources say the BJP leadership inducted Yediyurappa as a member of the all-powerful Parliamentary Board and the Central Election Committee despite crossing the age-limit of 75 years to keep the community by their side.

BJP’s problems appear to have been multiplied by the fact that one of the victims belongs to the SC community. Party’s internal surveys also seem to have predicted a tough going in the upcoming elections—a reason perhaps the central leadership cautioned the state unit to be “careful” in approach.