After pre-empting his removal from the ministry in a forthcoming reshuffle, one of the two Muslim ministers in Karnataka’s coalition government, Zameer Ahmed Khan, resigned today.The minister for Wakf and Haj committee has cited Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s failure to attend Eid prayers and festivities on Monday as the reason for his decision to quit the JD(S)-BJP ministry. Khan submitted his resignation to Governor TN Chaturvedi today morning and told reporters that he would reconsider his move only if the CM publicly apologised to the Muslim community. Kumaraswamy, who initially said he would try to convince an “emotional” Khan to change his mind, accepted the minister’s resignation in the afternoon. “I have not committed any blunder,” the CM said. Khan, a local transporter and young Muslim leader, has been a close associate of Kumaraswamy in the recent times. He had taken his oath as a minister in the name of Kumaraswamy and played a crucial supporting role in Kumaraswamy’s rise in the state. He, however, has not found favour with Kumaraswamy’s father, JD(S) national president and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda.Sources said Khan recently got wind of a move to drop him from the ministry to accommodate Mirajuddin Patel, a more senior Muslim leader and one favored by Deve Gowda, during an impending reshuffle later this month.Khan has had a series of differences with Kumaraswamy and the JD(S) leadership ever since he became a minister. He even spearheaded a mini dissent against Kumaraswamy two months ago. He was initially upset that the transport portfolio was given to someone else.The JD(S)-BJP government’s decision to accept a judicial report into the 1994 Bhatkal communal riots issue later caused more consternation. Sources said the diversion of a deal for the purchase of buses, away from a company favoured by Khan, also deepened the rift between the minister and his mentor.“HD Deve Gowda is concerned about Muslims but his son wants to undo it,” Khan said after Kumaraswamy did not attend Bakrid prayers on Monday. “The sum of all the differences has forced Zameer Ahmed Khan to quit. The break point, however, came with the news of his likely removal from the ministry,” a JD(S) source said.
