Bengaluru: Alleging “mental torture” by energy minister, D K Shivakumar, and his younger sibling and Lok Sabha member, D K Suresh, Congress legislator, C P Yogeshwar, has quit the ruling party.
He told DC that he had no choice but to sever ties with the Congress following mental harassment by these two leaders who expect everyone to remain servile and deny opportunities for growth. These brothers stymie the growth of all leaders in Ramanagar district and sideline them through devious means. Therefore, a senior member like him could not leverage his network to strengthen the party at grassroots level.
In fact, Mr Shivakumar had prevailed up central leaders not to issue him a party ticket during Assembly polls in 2013. He, however, contested on a candidate of Samajwadi Party and was elected from Channapatna by an impressive margin. Even JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda struck a deal with Congress leader Ahmed Patel and ensured the entry of a Muslim candidate into the fray with an intention to humiliate him. Such humiliation forced him to contest on a BJP ticket and win the election. The saffron party inducted him into council of ministers. Subsequently, the Congress wooed him back into the party with several promises but did nothing except dump him, he added.
Mr Yogeshwar alleged that Mr Shivakumar even interfered in allocation of funds for development schemes in his constituency and ensured that they were slashed in an effort to humiliate him. The minister had grown in stature within the party owing to his money power. No one knew what happened after IT raids on several offices and homes of the minister. The party’s central leaders had turned weak and therefore lacked the power to reward sincere and dedicated workers, he added.
The former minister alleged that he was denied a minister’s post despite being a senior legislator and queried whether it was fault that he was born as member of a particular community (Vokkaligas). Accusing Congress leaders with pandering to money bags, he said Mrs Gita Mahadevaprasad, widow of cooperation minister H S Mahadevaprasad, who won the recent Gundlupet by-polls, was made a minister. MLC H M Revanna, a close confidant of CM Siddaramaiah was made a minister. Ditto with R B Timmapura.
He said a meeting of his well-wishers will be held in Channapatna on October 22 where he would decide which party to join. “I have resigned only as primary member of the Congress and not as MLA since I got elected as an independent candidate.”
