Karnataka Minister K N Rajanna Resigns After Remarks On 'Votechori' Protest; Party High Command Steps In

Bengaluru, Aug 11: In what appears to be sweet revenge by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, Karnataka Cooperative Minister K N Rajanna was forced to resign on the direction of Congress High Command.

Rajanna's reported loose remarks on the #Votechori protest led by Leader of Opposition in Parliament Rahul Gandhi nailed the most talkative ST leader in the State, who had earlier embarrassed the party, especially Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar multiple times during the last two years.

Rajanna is the second minister to resign from Siddaramaiah cabinet and interestingly, both belong to the ST community. First, it was Tribal Development and Youth Empowerment Minister B Nagendra, who resigned after being arrested for illegal transfer of money from Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation to a private bank in Andhra Pradesh to a private account in Hyderabad.

On Friday, the Congress organised a massive rally led by Rahul Gandhi against the  Karnataka Election Commission, alleging #Votechori. In response, the Election Commission pointed out that whenever voter list are updated, a draft copy would be distributed among the political party block polling officers and if there are any objections, the amendments would be made before publishing the final voter list.

Resignation Drama in Assembly Session

Reacting to this, Rajanna said that there was a mistake on the side of the Congress party also. "Six months before the elections, the provisional voter list will be with us and it is our duty to verify if the list is proper or not. We have failed in our duty.''

This was the last nail to the coffin and the party high command asked him to resign from the state cabinet. On Monday, the opening day of the monsoon session of Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Rajanna submitted his resignation. A lot of drama happened even when he submitted his resignation. When he went to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's chamber, he was not given an audience. He had to hand over his resignation letter to Siddaramaiah's assistant. He got Siddaramaiah's audience only after the Governor Thyavar Chand Gehlot accepted the resignation letter.

Clashes with D K Shivakumar

Rajanna has been in the eye of the storm for a long time. A party hopper, Rajanna is known for speaking his mind and being expressive about his love and hate. He had been in loggerheads with D K Shivakumar for a long time.

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Honey Trap Allegations Without Evidence

Whenever the power sharing issue cropped up, Rajanna always hinted that there would be `revolution in November', if there are efforts to change Siddaramaiah. Meanwhile, he also claimed that there was an effort to `honey trap' him by his own party men and also lodged a complaint with the CID. Later, the case was dropped after Rajanna failed to provide any evidence for his claims.

However, the high command was irked after his open remarks against AICC General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, when he held separate meetings with MLAs over the State developmental works. Rajanna openly criticised and questioned the authority of the AICC General Secretary to hold meetings on State administrative matters. Before commenting on #Votechori rally, Rajanna had earned enough enemies in the party high command circle.