Mysuru: BJP national president Amit Shah proclaimed state president BS Yeddyurappa the next chief minister of the state and rule for a full five-year term.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Saturday, Shah brought up the Veerashaiva-Lingayat issue to accuse Chief Minister of introducing it just before the Assembly polls to deny Yeddyurappa the opportunity to form the next government. Shah added that Siddaramaiah was dividing people along the lines of caste and religion.

He said the government was keeping the matter in limbo for four years and then offering to give Lingayats the minority religion status for political gains. “The Union government will take a decision after the elections,” he said.

Amit Shah has accused the Congress and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of carrying out misinformation campaign on allocation of funds by the Centre. He feared that such misinformation would threaten the integrity of the country. He said in the federal system, the Central government’s expenditure is met from the same pool of funds.

On the allegation that the Centre is discriminating against Southern states in allocation of funds, Shah maintained that there is no such discrimination. “The state that was allocated D88,583 crore by the 13th Finance Commission was allocated D2,19, 566 crore by the 14th commission,” he said.

The Rajya Sabha member distanced himself from former minister Janaradhan Reddy, and clarified that a screening committee would pick BJP candidates for the elections, “based on their track record and clean image”. Claiming that the Centre had released `79,000 crore to Karnataka, he “rued that the Congress were acting like speed breakers against development”.