Mysuru: Heavyweights of the Congress party including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah broke their silence and came down heavily on former Union Minister and Ex-MLA of Nanjangud, Mr V. Srinivasprasad for quitting the party at a mega convention of Congress workers in the constituency on Sunday. They made it clear that the convention was intended to send a message to party workers that they should ensure the victory of any candidate fielded by the Congress in the ensuing bypoll.
“It is unfortunate that Mr Srinivasprasad has quit. He has alleged that I dropped him from the Cabinet out of malice and because of an inferiority complex. If that was true, I would not have given him the second most powerful portfolio, after the CM post, which is Revenue. I gave him the portfolio considering that he was senior and experienced although he was old and unwell. I held a meeting of all ministers before I went to meet the high command for the Cabinet reshuffle. What more could I have done in a democratic set-up? It is not possible to inform every minister that he is being dropped. Among 123 MLAs, only 34 can be made ministers, even others should be given an opportunity. As much as Rs 1450 crores has been allocated for the development of Nanjangud. I am not anti-dalit as alleged by him, I believe in social justice. We allocated Rs 19,542 crores for dalits which is the highest in the country. It was B.S. Yeddyurappa who alleged that Mr Srinivasprasad was not performing as a minister, why is he welcoming him (into the BJP)? We have fulfilled 125 out of 165 promises made in the party manifesto, I am going to Delhi to receive the award for the state being selected as Number 1 for economic development by India Today. Let us face elections on the basis of our achievements,” the CM said.
KPCC President, Dr G. Parameshwar hit out at Mr Srinivasprasad saying, “When the state was facing a severe drought, did he visit even a single district? In Mr Vajpayee’s cabinet, he was minister of state, but he did not touch a single file,” he claimed.
Mr Gundu Rao, said, “The Congress ideology revolves around social justice, upliftment of the poor, exploited and downtrodden. If the party has not moved away from its ideology, why should he quit? It only indicates that he was obsessed with power. It is the discretion of the CM and high command to choose or drop ministers.”
Water release from today CM said that the government would release water for standing crops for a week from Monday.
