Bengaluru: A day after former minister R. Roshan Baig's outburst against the sidelining of minorities during candidate selection and hours after former chief secretary J. Alexander withdrew his resignation, another prominent Christian face of the Congress and former super cop H.T. Sangliana resigned from the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president's post as well as the primary membership of the Congress party alleging that the party had marginalised the Christian leadership in the state.
Mr Sangliana prior to becoming MP, was known for his Super Cop image and at his peak of his policing career, even Sandalwood encashed on his tough cop image by producing a couple of movies in his name which became instant blockbuster hits too with late Shankar Nag playing the tough cop.
These movies not only set a new trend in Sandalwood, they also made Mr Sangliana a household name in Karnataka.
In 2004, Mr Sangliana after his retirement, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and won from the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat.
He, however, cross-voted during the crucial confidence motion and saved the United Progressive Alliance –1 government after the Left parties withdrew support over then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's decision to go ahead with the inking of the nuclear deal with the USA.
Subsequently, Mr Sangliana was given the Congress ticket for Bengaluru Central in 2009 but lost by a margin of 33,000 votes.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, sources close to him said, “Mr Sangliana is miffed with the party for not considering him for the Bengaluru Central constituency ticket for the second time. Incumbent candidate Rizwan Arshad had lost by almost 1.5 lakh votes in 2014 and such being the case, why did the party have to field Arshad again? It could have opted for Sangliana who has a better record against BJP's Lok Sabha candidate, P. C. Mohan. Therefore, he chose to resign as he feels the Congress is systematically marginalising Christian leaders in the state.”
