BENGALURU: Ahead of the assembly elections in Karnataka in May, the Congress government in the state on Monday struck at the Opposition BJP’s principal vote-bank by declaring that the Lingayat community would be a minority religion distinct from Hinduism.The government also decided to extend the minority status to any of the Veerashaiva community (believers in Hindu gods) who express faith in the philosophy of Lingayat leader Basaveshwara (Basavanna), who propounded the equality of all, prayer to atma\ishta linga (the soul as god) and removal of caste and rituals.“Most of the about 85 lakh-strong Lingayat community In Karnataka gets covered under this kind of categorisation. Only about 10-15 lakh Veerashaivas, who believe in Hindu rituals that pre-date Basavanna, will not come under it,” a cabinet minister who declined to be named told ET.“We welcome the decision. Ours is a proselytizing religion and anyone who believes in Basava philosophy can join us,” SM Jamdhar, secretary of the Lingayat Dharma Horata Samiti, told ETWith this decision, the Congress has avoided a split within the cabinet as its Veerashaiva ministers have also been accommodated. It has also effectively divided the BJP’s main voters. “The BJP government in the state, despite being led by a Lingayat leader, BS Yeddyurappa, did not take such a strong decision and fulfil the aspirations of the community. We hope this will give us some benefit,” a Lingayat leader in the Congress told ET.“We don’t expect the community to shift its allegiance to us, en masse. Even a small shift away from the BJP will do,” another leader reasoned. “This decision will give us strong traction on the ground. Yeddyurappa couldn’t do what we have done for the Lingayats .”The state cabinet, which met for the third time in a week to discuss this long-standing issue, decided to accept the recommendations of the Karnataka State Minorities’ Commission and Justice Nagmohan Das Committee.“It was decided to grant the recognition of religious minority to Lingayat and Veerashaiva lingayats (believers of Basava tatva) under section 2(d) of the Karnataka State Minorities Act. This will be forwarded to the Centre for notification under section 2(C) of the National Commission for Minorities Act,” said law minister TB Jayachandra.Allaying fears of the other minorities -- Muslims, Christians and Jains -- who form part of the Congress votebank, Jayachandra said the minority status to Lingayats was “subject to the condition that such recognition would not affect the rights and interests of other minorities in the state”.Further the effective date of the notification of the status would be “after meeting the procedural requirements and after taking note of the possible impact on other minorities, non-minorities or the public at large”, Jayachandra explained.Government sources said this meant that the reservation benefits for other minorities should not be re-adjusted to accommodate the Lingayats also. “Currently, all the educational and other institutions owned by them will get minority status and that will give them enormous benefit. For other benefits, reservation limits have to be worked on and that will take some time,” a senior official said.