Bengaluru: Former minister and BTM Layout MLA Ramalinga Reddy, who many see as the Congressman who upset deputy chief minister Dr. G. Parameshwar’s plans to cut him to size, is not likely to accept any post including that of deputy chief minister reportedly offered by Congress leaders to defuse the crisis in the coalition government, following the shock resignations of several MLAs from the state Assembly, said sources close to him.
"Accepting the post will surely send out a signal that he played the 'resignation' drama just for this. He does not want to sent out such a message after working in several ministries besides being elected for a record six times in a long political career", sources told Deccan Chronicle.
What has left Reddy and other senior Congress leaders piqued is the humiliation they suffered at the hands of some senior party leaders who were more than eager to roll out the red carpet for newcomers and Independents who were even inducted into the cabinet.
According to sources, the resignation of a senior leader like Mr Reddy could have been avoided had state leaders acted in an impartial manner. Unfortunately, the state Congress is riddled with factionalism and every leader has built a coterie of sycophants.
In the name of protecting the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, junior MLAs were inducted into the Cabinet and the last straw for Mr Reddy was the induction of two Independent legislators - Mr Shankar and Mr Nagesh into the Council of Ministers much against the advice of senior legislators. On that day, Mr Reddy reportedly met AICC General Secretary in charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal, and told him that he would have to go his own way since the party was at the crossroads. Despite knowing the realities on the ground , the Congress high command kept quiet and relied on a few state leaders without actually listening to the aggrieved legislators.
Sources disclosed that on Monday, CM Kumaraswamy spoke to Mr Reddy over the phone and requested him to withdraw his resignation which he flatly rejected asserting that the decision was taken after a lot of thought. Mr Reddy will be meeting Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar if he gets a call from the latter’s office on Tuesday. Once a resignation letter is handed over to the Speaker's office in the absence of the presiding officer, the MLA will be summoned for consultation before it is accepted, sources said. Mr Reddy had handed over his resignation to the office on Saturday.
