KN Rajanna (left) and Rahul Gandhi.
Credit: DH, PTI Photos
Bengaluru: In a sudden development, Karnataka Cooperation Minister KN Rajanna was sacked from the Cabinet on Monday afternoon.
Apparently, the Congress high command wanted him out for criticising top party leader Rahul Gandhi’s “vote theft” charge.
Rajanna’s removal is a setback to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as it comes during the monsoon session of the legislature, which commenced earlier in the day.
Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot signed off on a notification for Rajanna’s “removal” from the Cabinet.
A close aide of Siddaramaiah, Rajanna on Saturday almost ridiculed Rahul Gandhi’s “vote theft” allegation.
On Friday, Rahul had addressed a protest rally in Bengaluru where he doubled down on his charge that the Election Commission “colluded” with the BJP to allow more than one lakh bogus votes in the Mahadevapura assembly constituency, which he said helped the saffron party win the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha election last year.
“When were the voter lists prepared? They were prepared under our government. Were we all sleeping?” Rajanna asked on Saturday. “It’s true that there were irregularities. But we should be ashamed that those irregularities happened right in front of our eyes and we didn’t stop them. We must be cautious going forward,” he had said.
Rajanna pointed out that objections were invited after draft electoral rolls were prepared. “What were we doing then? Yes, Narendra Modi became prime minister by changing votes and all such things. Shouldn’t we have checked the draft electoral rolls after they were published? We should’ve filed objections. Having been quiet then, we’re raising this now,” he said.
Last week, Rajanna was relieved as the minister in charge of the Hassan district. Rajanna had clarified that he wanted out due to other commitments in his Tumakuru district.
Rajanna is the second minister to come out of Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet since Congress came to power in 2023. Last year, Bellary MLA B Nagendra had to resign in connection with embezzlement at the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation.
Both Nagendra and Rajanna belong to the Valmiki (ST) community. Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet now has only one ST minister in Satish Jarkiholi.
Rajanna, the Madugiri MLA, courted controversies for his brazen statements, some of which took the Congress high command head on.
Recently, Rajanna criticised Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala for holding meetings with officials. In March, the Congress high command was miffed after Rajanna sensationally claimed in the Assembly that honey-trapping attempts were made on him. The police found no evidence.
Rajanna’s relationship with Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar was also strained. Rajanna had publicly called for the appointment of a new Karnataka Congress president, a post held by Shivakumar.