In focus
TWO DAYS after he said that alleged irregularities in the voter list in Bengaluru’s Mahadevapura Assembly constituency occurred under the Congress’s watch and the party should have monitored it, Karnataka Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna resigned from the government on Monday. Hours later, he claimed he had been sacked due to a “conspiracy” and said he would soon travel to Delhi to meet the high command and clear any “misunderstanding”.
The remark irked a section of the state Congress that petitioned the party high command to act against the minister. Sources said by Monday evening, Rajanna, who is part of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s camp, was instructed to step down and a letter was sent to the Raj Bhavan informing the Governor about his resignation.
Following a meeting with the CM, the 74-year-old MLA from Madhugiri in Tumakuru district, who is from a Scheduled Tribe community, said he did not want to get into the details of his resignation as he did not want to “embarrass” the Congress central leadership. “There is a huge conspiracy behind my resignation or sacking. Who is behind this conspiracy? Who met which leaders (to ensure my removal)? All these details I will share when the time is right,” he said.
Rajanna said he would soon travel to Delhi along with other state ministers. “I will meet Rahul Gandhi, All India Congress Committee president (Mallikarjun Kharge), and (AICC general secretary for organisation) K C Venugopal to clear the misunderstanding.” He also said all Congress leaders would support Gandhi’s nationwide campaign against “vote chori (vote theft)”.
There was no immediate response from the AICC to Rajanna’s latest remarks.
During the day, Siddaramaiah consulted some of his other Cabinet colleagues, even as the Opposition raised the matter in the Assembly on the first day of the Monsoon Session. State LoP R Ashoka said Rajanna had earlier been removed as the minister in charge of Hassan district and now had lost his Cabinet portfolio. Making a cricket analogy, the BJP leader said that “wickets favouring Siddaramaiah were falling one by one”.
“Every day, Rajanna used to bat in favour of Siddaramaiah. Now, the Congress leadership has asked him to be removed from the Cabinet … After Gandhi’s protest, Rajanna told the truth that if any irregularities happened, it was because of state officials. They were angry with this truth … This shows that there is no democracy in the party … He was sacked for speaking the truth,” Ashoka said.
As BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar demanded a statement from the government, state Law and Parliamentary Minister H K Patil said the CM would speak to the House on the matter. “Session is in progress and this discussion is unnecessary,” he said.
This is not the first time Rajanna has landed the Congress in a spot of bother. During the Budget Session in March, the 74-year-old alleged a gang had attempted to trap him in a “honey trap” operation, adding that 48 leaders across parties were also targeted. The state CID, which investigated the case, found no evidence to prove the accusations.. At the time, it was believed that the allegations were the fallout of a power struggle in the state Congress.
Rajanna earlier demanded that Deputy CM D K Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah’s rival in the party, be replaced as state Congress president. He also urged the party leadership to appoint three more Deputy CMs, which was seen as a call to curtail Shivakumar’s power in the state administration.
Shivakumar on Monday said the leadership had asked the veteran leader to step down and that he did not know anything more. “I am also hurt by this. He is a good friend. We have been in politics together for the last 25 years,” the Deputy CM said.
Last month, Rajanna objected to AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, chairing a meeting with state government officials, calling it “anti-Constitutional”.
