Karnataka Minister Rajanna Sacked After He Refused To Resign
A letter to remove Rajanna was sent by the chief minister to the governor in the afternoon and the recommendation was accepted by the Raj Bhavan
BENGALURU: A couple of days after he was sacked as incharge minister of Hassan district, K.N. Rajanna on Monday resigned as Minister of Cooperation reportedly on a direction from Congress high command in particular from Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. K.N. Rajanna represents Madhugiri Assembly seat in Tumakuru district and was made Hassan incharge minister.
A direction reportedly from Rahul Gandhi to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah demanded Rajanna’s resignation and sources told Deccan Chronicle that Rahul Gandhi was annoyed at K.N. Rajanna over his latest statement on ‘vote theft’ leading to embarrassment to the party at a time when he is fighting against alleged vote theft cases in Maharashtra Assembly elections and also in Mahadevapura Assembly seat of Bengaluru city.
The high command acted against K.N. Rajanna after some Congress workers brought to the notice of the Rajanna’s statement on vote theft.
In a chat with reporters on Sunday, K.N. Rajanna stated the voters list was prepared when Congress party was in power and it was not the only instance where Rajanna's statements caused embarrassment to the ruling Congress party in Karnataka.
He on various occasions had spoken against decisions of the party. Despite strict warnings from high command, Rajanna demanded creation for 5 Deputy Chief Ministers posts to the existing, spoken on change of leadership issue and recently stated there was no need for party incharge of Karnataka affairs Randeep Singh Surjewala to hold one to one meetings with party MLAs/Ministers/MPs.
Karnataka incharge of Congress affairs Randeep Singh Surjewala had warned his partymen on disciplinary action if leaders/ministers discuss party matters in public.
Taking a serious view of his statements in particular on vote theft, the high command directed Siddaramaiah over phone to seek the resignation of K.N. Rajanna by evening or else they would act sternly against him. Sources said, high command is even contemplating on his ouster/expulsion from the party.
On receipt of the direction, Rajanna walked to the office of Chief Minister to submit his resignation and the resignation was forwarded to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot who approved it after consultation with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
After stepping down as a Minister, Rajanna told reporters in Vidhana Soudha “How do I know the reasons (what made the high command to seek his resignation)?”.
Earlier, Rajanna attended the monsoon session of Assembly which began in Vidhana Soudha on Monday. In the meantime, the news of resignation of Rajanna spread in the political circles and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka wanted to know from Rajanna over his resignation which was unconfirmed at that time.