Bengaluru: BJP leader, Vijayapura MLA and former Union minister Basana Gowda Patil Yatnal urged the BJP national leaders to give two more ministerial berths to the Lingayat community.
Speaking to reporters in the Vijayapura city, he stated that the Lingayats extended full support to the BJP in the Lok Sabha election and many candidates from the community emerged victorious. “So, the community must be given more Cabinet berths,” he said.
He also argued that the members of the Dalit and OBC communities, who extended their support to the party, must be given more representation in the Cabinet.
It can be recalled that only one Lingayat MP (Suresh Angadi from Belagavi) was inducted into the Union Cabinet.
Two Brahmins (Nirmala Sitharaman and Prahlad Joshi) and one Vokkaliga (D V Sadananda Gowda) from Karnataka were also inducted into the new Cabinet.
Yatnal’s demand comes amidst reports that the BJP national leadership didn’t budge to party state unit president B S Yeddyurappa’s demand for a portfolio for his trusted colleague, MP Shobha Karandlaje.
