Bangalore: Two influential communities in Karnataka that had pulled apart in the past one year over the previous Congress government's decision to accord religious minority status to one of them are now set to return to the table to plan better political leverage in unison.

The Lingayats and the Veerashaivas, often seen as one community, had been under the spotlight for about a year since the Congress government headed by P.C. Siddaramaiah gave tacit support to minority status for the Lingayats.

But a Karnataka government official said there was no word from the Centre on the recommendation to accord the religious minority status to the Lingayats. "There is no information of acceptance or rejection of the recommendation," Mohammed Mohsin, principal secretary of the Karnataka minority welfare department, said on Tuesday.

Siddaramaiah said he too had no information on the status of the proposal. "I don't know if it's been endorsed. The Centre will examine the proposal and take a decision."

Siddaramaiah rebutted the general perception that the notification was his brainchild. "It was not my decision. Whatever decision was taken and forwarded to the Government of India was the decision of the (state) government," said Siddaramaiah, who is now the chairman of the state coalition's coordination committee.

The Lingayats being a traditional vote bank of the BJP, the notification had widely been interpreted as a move by the Congress to wean away the influential community.

The Veerashaivas, who do not see Lingayatism as a separate entity, had opposed the minority status and maintained they were one community. They had accused the Congress of "dividing" them for political reasons.

But with the Congress losing the Assembly polls, although it later joined the Janata Dal Secular to form the government, fingers were pointed at the "division" of the Lingayats as the main reason for the defeat.

It was 12th-century philosopher-saint Basaveshwara, fondly called Basavanna, who formed the Lingayat sect in protest against the caste system. People from all castes joined him and came to be called Lingayats. But somewhere down the line, some of them began following Hindu scriptures again, and came to be known as Veerashaivas. The Veerashaivas make up a fifth of the Lingayats and are against the grant of minority status because they want to retain their Hindu identity.

Sanjay Makal, national secretary of the Jagathika Lingayat Mahasabha, told The Telegraph that a meeting between the Lingayats and the Veerashaivas had been tentatively scheduled for June 17 in Bangalore. But he has yet to come to terms with any possibility of being hyphenated with the Veerashaivas.

According to him, the proposed meeting is a product of the political dissent in the ruling alliance.

Several Lingayat leaders headed by M.B. Patil of the Congress have been demanding more cabinet posts. Patil himself had wanted to become deputy chief minister. But Congress president Rahul Gandhi is learnt to have turned down the demand and called for unity.

"We continue to maintain that Lingayatism is a separate religion and the Veerashaivas are different from us in terms of the mode of worship," Makal said.

The Lingayats claim that their community was formed as a separate religious entity by 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara, better known as Basavanna. By that argument, they didn't recognise the Veerashaivas as a part of Lingayatism.

Although both are Shaivite groups, the Lingayats follow vachanas (literally meaning, what is said) as their scripture. The Veerashaivas, on the other hand, follow the Vedas and much of Hindu traditions and forms of worship.

"But there is no harm in talking if something positive can emerge from the meeting," said Makal, who is one of the top leaders of the mass movement for a separate identity for the Lingayats.

Disgruntled Congress MLA and former irrigation minister Patil has also given the go-ahead to the proposed meeting although he was the political spearhead of the Lingayat movement. "I leave it to the (Jagathika) Lingayat Mahasabha to take the appropriate decisions," he told reporters on Monday.

The Veerashaivas are also awaiting a positive outcome to Sunday's meeting. "We have all along maintained that the Veerashaivas and the Lingayats are a single entity. It would be great if that idea can find favour at the meeting," said a senior member of the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha.