Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has become puppet & rubber stamp of Congress high command: BJP

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar in Bengaluru (PTI Photo)

BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel on Saturday took a swipe at new Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleging that he does not enjoy the freedom of picking Ministers of his choice in his Cabinet.

Posting a letter by the Congress general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal to Siddaramaiah on his Twitter handle, Kateel said the new Chief Minister has become a puppet of Congress high command from day one. In the letter, Venugopal shared the list of eight MLAs saying that Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge has approved their names as Cabinet Ministers.

"You are hereby requested to see that this decision is executed as per provisions of the appropriate law,” Venugopal wrote in the letter.

"This letter is proof that Siddaramaiah does not have the freedom to decide who should be Ministers in the Congress government of Karnataka. Siddaramaiah who believes in socialist ideology became a puppet and rubber stamp Chief Minister of the Congress high command from the day one,” Kateel tweeted.

Siddaramaiah was sworn in as Chief Minister for the second term, along with state Congress president D K Shivakumar as Deputy Chief Minister, and eight legislators as Ministers on Saturday, exactly a week after the party swept the Assembly polls in Karnataka.