Bengaluru, May 21: Though it is almost certain that Dalit leader G Parameshwara will be a deputy chief minister in H D Kumaraswamy-led Cabinet, the Congress has mooted a proposal to create another deputy chief minister in order to accommodate a Lingayat leader too.
While Dalits are considered the Congress’s vote bank, the party wants to placate the Lingayat community which is said to be upset with the move to accord separate minority religion status to the Veerashaiva/Lingayat (Basava tatva) faith.
Sources said there are more than two contenders for the post. If Mr. Parameshwara is given the post, both the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister will be from South Karnataka. In the wake of this, there is a demand from Lingayat legislators of North Karnataka to give the post to one of them. The names of former Ministers M.B. Patil, S.R. Patil, and H.K. Patil are doing the rounds.
Meanwhile, the Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha is learnt to have submitted a representation to the party leaders appealing that the Deputy Chief Minister’s post be given to senior member from their community Shamanur Shivashankarappa. A final decision on this is likely to emerge after discussions between Mr. Kumaraswamy and Rahul Gandhi on Monday, sources said.
It is still not clear if any Congress member will also be sworn in along with Mr. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday. AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal said a decision was yet to be taken.
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