Karnataka Cooperation minister KN Rajanna — a known supporter of chief minister (CM) Siddaramaiah — submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah following a controversy with remarks that drew sharp response from deputy CM DK Shivakumar's supporters.
Rajanna resigned on Monday after his statement on ‘voter list fraud’ controversy went against the stand taken by the Congress leadership. Shortly after, the Karnataka Chief Minister Office as well as Governor confirmed that his resignation has been accepted. CM Siddaramaiah will be informing the Karnataka Assembly.
Over his statement on Rahul Gandhi's allegations against EC, Karnataka Minister KN Rajanna reiterated what he had earlier said about Lok Sabha opposition leader Rahul Gandhi's allegations of vote theft against the Election Commission.
"Look, if we just start talking about such things casually, there will be different opinions. When was the voter list prepared? It was prepared when our own government was in power. At that time, was everyone just sitting quietly with eyes closed? These irregularities did take place — that’s the truth. There is nothing false in this," he said speaking to ANI.
Rajanna said that the irregularities happened right in front of their eyes for which "we should feel ashamed".
"We didn’t take care of it at the time. That’s why we must be alert in the future....In Mahadevapura, there was indeed fraud. One person was registered in three different places and voted in all three. But when the draft electoral rolls are being prepared, we have to monitor it, right?...When the draft electoral rolls are made, we must file objections — that is our responsibility. At that time, we kept quiet and now we are talking," he told ANI.
Responding to Rajanna’s statement, Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar said, "Mr KN Rajanna is totally at fault. He doesn’t know. My Chief Minister and my party's high command will reply to it."
In response to a rally led by Lok Sabha opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, in Bengaluru last week, where he accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of bias and blamed discrepancies in voter lists for the party's defeat in key constituencies like Bangalore Central, Rajanna had pushed back suggesting that the party must also take responsibility.
“One should remember that voter lists were revised when our own government was at the helm," Rajanna had said.
"Why did our party turn a blind eye then? It is true that there are irregularities, but it is insulting for us that it happened right under our nose,” he added.
Rajanna said: "It becomes our responsibility to act in timely fashion on issues like electoral rolls,” pointing out to party colleagues that the ECI had invited objections after publishing draft electoral rolls.
Rajanna's comments were taken well with members of Shivakumar's camp, who accused him and other seniors of acting against party interests. The internal rift in Karnataka Congress is showing up amid a larger ongoing struggle for the CM post between supporters of Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.
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