Bengaluru, Aug 11 (IANS) Reacting to Minister for Cooperation K.N. Rajanna’s resignation, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said on Monday that all the leaders and workers bow to the high command’s decisions.

“Rajanna is my close friend. We have pursued politics together for 25 years. I am also pained. Nothing can be done; it is a party decision. You all know the context in which this decision has been taken. We all have to bow to the decision of the party high command,” said Shivakumar.

He said that he was informed about the decision by the Chief Minister. “Ministers and MLAs do not come under my jurisdiction. In the case of MLAs, we can issue notices and take minor actions, but the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader controls the legislators,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, sources said that Monday’s development has strengthened Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar’s position within the Congress party over Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Rajanna, a close associate of Siddaramaiah, had openly supported Siddaramaiah while targeting Shivakumar.

Rajanna, who was the State Cooperation Minister, was asked to submit his resignation after his remark against the LoP Rahul Gandhi’s press conference on the voter fraud.

“If there was voter fraud, the state Congress should have pointed it out much earlier,” he had said.

Meanwhile, taking to social media X, BJP State President and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra said that Rajanna, a senior ST leader and Cooperation Minister, was removed from the cabinet for merely speaking the truth – an honest admission which every Kannadiga knows.

“Yet in the Congress party, truth is treated as a threat, especially when it comes from a leader of a marginalised community whose voice they have long tried to silence.”

The pattern is clear. In the case of ST Welfare Minister B. Nagendra, funds earmarked for the development of the community were siphoned off to finance Congress’s election expenses. Instead of holding the CM Siddaramaiah and Dy CM Shivakumar accountable, the blame was placed entirely on Nagendra, and the matter was quietly closed, he said.

“Even when SC/ST MLAs and Ministers gather informally for a meal, the high command dictates that such meetings cannot happen without their physical presence, as though leaders from these communities cannot meet independently,” he pointed out.

“This is the true face of Congress, anti-Dalit, anti-ST, anti-democratic and anti-truth. It also exposes the hollowness of Siddaramaiah’s claims of championing the AHINDA cause. When leaders from these communities are targeted, he does not defend them. Instead, he bows to the diktats of the Delhi High Command to safeguard his own position as Chief Minister,” said Vijayendra.

–IANS

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