At consultation, leaders seek a new seer for Murugha Mutt

The incumbent seer is under arrest in a POCSO cas

A consultation of leaders of Veerashaiva Lingayat community in Chitradurga district on Thursday, which witnessed heated arguments for some time, finally resolved to seek the appointment of a new seer to the Murugha Mutt (Brihan Mutt) in the wake of the arrest of the present seer in a POCSO case.

The consultation, convened to ‘Save the Murugha Mutt’, was held at Sibara in Chitradurga taluk under the leadership of the former Minister H. Ekanthaiah. The issue of appointing a new seer to oversee religious activities and administrative affairs of the mutt was discussed at length.

In the meeting, where several devotees came up with different opinions, Mr. Ekanthaiah stressed the need for appointing a new seer. He said that Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaur, who is under arrest, should either abdicate the peetha (religious chair) or be removed from the mutt. He also sought intervention of the government to resolve the issue.

He said as the incumbent seer was under judicial custody, there was a need for someone to oversee the daily affairs of the mutt.

MLC K.S. Naveen, former MLA M.B. Thipperudrappa, T.H. Basavarajappa, and P. Ramesh, community leaders S. Shanmukhappa, Vijaykumar, K.V. Prabhakar, M.T. Mallikarjunaiah, G.S. Manjunath, and others took part in the meeting.

Earlier, as the meeting began there was a commotion with pro-seer devotees clashing with some devotees who wanted a change. There was commotion for some time and altercation leading to some of the pro-seer leaders walking away from the meeting.