Bengaluru: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah faced criticism from the leaders of his own party during a meeting of the Congress Election Committee.
During the meeting, chaired by Karnataka Congress state in-charge K C Venugopal on Thursday, September 26, former union minister K H Muniappa expressed his disgruntlement towards Siddaramaiah and accused him of “acting like a dictator”.
Muniappa said, “Siddaramaiah doesn’t invite us for any of the party’s meetings. He is acting like a dictator.”
Further he said, “The reason for my defeat in the recent general elections is former speaker Ramesh Kumar. I have filed a complaint with the top Congress leaders and none of them have taken any action against him.”
Once the meeting was concluded, Siddaramaiah got up and walked out of the room without reacting to the criticisms.
Meanwhile, Congress leader B K Hariprasad also showed distress over the party’s conduct.
Speaking about what occurred during the meeting, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Dinesh Gundu Rao clarified that no such criticisms were made and added that the leaders merely shared their views.
The party is expected to release a list of its candidates within a day or two for the upcoming by-elections in 15 Assembly constituencies.
It can be recalled that 17 legislators were disqualified by former speaker Ramesh Kumar as they had taken an ‘anti-party stand’. This led to their respective seats falling vacant.
Of the 17 constituencies, the by-poll dates for two (Rajarajeshwari Nagar or RR Nagar and Maski) have been kept on hold by the Election Commission. In RR Nagar, the date for the by-elections have not been announced as disqualified MLA Muniratna is facing a case in the Karnataka High Court for allegedly printing fake voters’ ID during the 2018 Assembly elections. The EC has also not announced the by-poll dates for Maski as disqualified MLA Pratapgouda Patil has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the former Karnataka speaker for disqualifying him and the other MLAs.
The Supreme Court is expected to pronounce its verdict on the case today.
