Sonia Gandhi greeted with black flags during Karnataka visit

Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, who is on a visit to Karnataka, was on Saturday greeted with black flags by members of the Madiga community who have been demanding reservations for a long time.

Sonia is visiting the state to review the situation in drought-hit areas and take part in the birthday celebrations of Shivkumar Swamiji of the powerful Siddaganga Mutt in Tumkur.

The Madiga community had led a delegation to New Delhi a month ago to seek reservations for their community. But despite an assurance from authorities, nothing has been done in this regard, they claimed.

Members of the community then decided to show black flags to Gandhi during her visit.

Meanwhile, Gandhi's visit to the Siddaganga Mutt has attracted a lot of attention, as experts have termed it a way of garnering the support of the Lingayat community which forms a major vote bank in Karnataka.

While the Lingayat community has traditionally favoured the BJP, experts feel that Gandhi's presence at the event may change the electoral fortunes of the Congress.

During her address at the mutt, Gandhi said that the central government led by the Congress had implemented educational programmes to benefit all sections of the society and added that such programmes should be implemented everywhere.

She also praised the seer Shivkumar Swamy for his work in the field of education.

"We all should follow his path and the path laid down by him in the field of education has been followed by the Congress government. It is a privilege to congratulate Swamiji and my pranam to him for showing us all the light," she said.

Later in the day, Gandhi is scheduled to visit a drought-hit village and interact with locals.