Cong Lingayat lie: Separate religion proposal rejected in 2013

A day after the Siddaramaiah government decided to grant religious minority status to lingayats, it emerged that the congress-led UPA government had rejected a proposal for lingayats to be declared a separate religion in 2013. The government had said such a tag would disadvantage people belonging to scheduled castes who follow the Veerashaiva-Lingayat dharma. The BJP seized on the contradiction, saying the congress move was a desperate bid to retain power by dividing Hindus.