Ayanur Manjunath wants Ashoka to go

Ayanur Manjunath, Rajya Sabha member from the BJP, has demanded that Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka should resign over the “injustice” meted out to the KSRTC employees during negotiations held recently to end their strike.

Manjunath, who is also the honorary president of the KSRTC Mazdoor Sangh, said that the agreement reached at the meeting with the joint agitation committee was against the interests of the employees and that Ashoka, also the Transport minister, was responsible for it.

He told a press conference on Tuesday that Ashoka signed an agreement that betrayed the interests of the workers, thereby causing embarrassment to the government.

The MP said Ashoka had no idea of labour laws and he had considered the strike a prestige issue. Through such acts, the deputy chief minister was aiding the “conspiracy” of former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, Manjunath alleged.

Not invited

Manjunath said many of the Mazdoor Sangh leaders, including himself, were not invited for the negotiations on September 14. Only a few leaders were present at the meeting where the pay revision formula was worked out, he alleged. He demanded that the pay revision be withdrawn, failing which an agitation would be launched.

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar may also have to resign over the consequences of the “fiasco,” he said.