Karnataka government has approved a separate religious status for the Lingayat community on Monday. The Lingayat community, which has numerous followers, was demanding separate religious status for a long time.

The cabinet meeting, which went on for over three hours, concluded with this decision.

The decision by the state government comes two months before Karnataka goes to vote in the state assembly election in May this year.

Earlier on Sunday, a group of Lingayat seers had met Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah at his official residence to talk over the issue. They cited a report by an official committee which recommended to grant a separate religion and minority status to the community and urged Siddaramaiah to implement the recommendations.

The community, comprising 17 percent of Karnataka’s population, supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It is ascertained that with this move, Siddaramaiah aimed to appease the community members ahead of the state assembly polls.

Karnataka State Minorities Commission had appointed a seven-member committee to submit a report on whether to grant Lingayat community as a separate religion which was headed by retired high court judge HN Nagamohan Das. The report, submitted to the government on March 2, said the community can be granted a separate religion status.

The cabinet will approach the Central Government with its recommendation.