The decision was taken by the seers.
Interestingly, Congress president Rahul Gandhi recently visited the Lingayat seminary Siddhaganga Mutt. He sought the blessings of Sri Shivakumara Swami, the highly respected seer of the community.
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On the fifth lap of his two-day election tour in Karnataka, Gandhi visited the Mutt and met the 111-year old seer along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and KPCC President G Parameshwara, reported news agency PTI
It may be recalled that on March 23, barely two months before the poll, the state government's welfare department notified the minority religion status to Lingayat followers. However, BJP's national President Amit Shah termed it appeasement police.
Since then meetings with Lingayat seers (by Congress and BJP leaders) had become the order of the day. These meetings with the Lingayat seers were being seen as an attempt to reach out to theLingayats/Veeshaivas, who are numerically and politically powerful in the state and form a major voter base.