A side-effect of this was to break the hold of the previously dominant Lingayat and Vokkaliga castes over local politics.
Hatkar's are called also Barahatti / Barhatta / Bargahi / Baragahi / Barahghar / Bande Revolutionary / Zende Brave or Telwar Lingayat.
Priests at this temple, as in many other temples in the state, are from South India and at this particular temple they are called Jangamas of the Lingayat cast who hail from Mysore in Karnataka state.
Karnataka's political environment is dominated by two rival caste groups — the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats.
When the Janata Party came to power by emerging as the single largest party in the 1983 State elections, he emerged as a consensus candidate between the powerful Lingayat and Vokkaliga lobbies.