Bengaluru: Coming out in defence of Primary and Secondary Education Minister Tanveer Sait for the first time, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said his government could not always do what the BJP wanted it to.
Speaking to reporters after paying floral tributes to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on the occasion of his birth anniversary, he said Mr Sait seemed to have done nothing wrong on the face of it.
“I have received an explanation from Mr Sait and it appears he was merely scrolling through all the WhatsApp messages on Tipu celebrations and has not committed any crime. But I have asked the CID to investigate the matter,” he added.
Responding to a query, he said that he had not directly spoken to the party high command about the incident, but KPCC president Dr G. Parameshwar had briefed party leaders in Delhi about it.
Dr Parameshwar said that he had informed the party’s national leadership about the incident over the telephone. “I am 100 per cent sure the truth will come out once the Cyber Cell of the police department gives us its report ,” he added.
Meanwhile, coming out strongly against Mr Sait, a woman party worker, Manjula Nagaraj on Monday publicly demanded that he resign or be dropped from the Cabinet. Interrupting Housing Minister M. Krishnappa’s speech during the birth anniversary celebrations of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru at the KPCC office here, Ms Nagaraj stood up and raised slogans against Mr Sait.
While several party tried to stop her, she shouted out that the party was led by a woman. “This is a party led by Ms Soniaji and Indira Gandhi in the past, whose birth centenary we will be celebrated this weekend.
This is the biggest humiliation heaped on women by none other than a Congress leader and so he should be dropped immediately,” she demanded. It was only after Dr Parameshwar signalled her to sit down that Ms Nagaraj relented and allowed the function to go on.
