bengaluru even as panchamasalis a dominant subsect of the veerashaivalingayat community are on a 450km padayatra seeking reservation under 2a category over 500 seers of the community from various states are set to launch an agitation seeking the other backward communities obc status for all subsects of the community at the national levelthe seers will participate in the convention in bengaluru on saturday and send a memorandum to the centre through the chief minister demanding reservation in education and jobs the convention is organised by the national federation of lingayat pontiffsquota pressure grows on govtpolitical analysts said the convention on saturday is to counter the panchamasali movement thats threatening to take the community away from bjp it appears to be a move to regroup other subsects in the lingayat community to keep bjps votebank intact since panchamasalis are seeking reservation only for themselves other subsects are feeling marginalized some forces within the community are trying to cash in on that sentiment said a bjp functionarypanchamasali pontiffs who all along backed chief minister bs yediyurappa though hes from ganiga subsect are now rallying behind panchamasali leaders such as vijayapura mla basanagouda patil yatnal a known critic of the cm recently when yatnal confronted yediyurappa on the reservation issue in the assembly the latter had responded by referring the issue to the backward classes commissionin karnataka 42 lingayat subsects enjoy 5 reservation under 3b category the federation said it is seeking the obc tag for all lingayat subsects at the national level without hurting the interests of those who are already covered by reservation and those seeking quota under a particular category an oblique reference to the panchamasali movementthe panchamasalis are demanding upgrade from 3b which assures 5 quota to 2a 15 within the states obc quota panchamasalis are farmers a majority of them are socially economically and educationally backward and need reservation under 2a said basava jaya mrutyunjaya swamy of panchamasali peetha in kudalasangama who is leading the padayatra to bengaluru the padayatra entered the 28th day on fridaythe pontiff said he would go on an indefinite strike from february 21 the day panchamasalis are staging a rally if the government did not make an announcement before the start of the budget session in march