JOIN USThe State BJP has issued a show-cause notice to former Union minister Dhananjay Kumar on the grounds that he has indulged in anti-party activities by issuing public statements against the chief minister and the State government led by the party.
The action came on Saturday within hours of Kumar, who was staging a dharna on the Cauvery issue along with former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, remarking that Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar had “no moral right” to continue in office because of his “inability” to handle the Cauvery issue. “Instead of protesting the Cauvery River Authority’s decision, the chief minister is hiding at his official residence. He has no right to continue in office”, Kumar said earlier in the day.
Kumar, a loyalist of the former chief minister, said that at a time when the entire State was agitated on the Cauvery issue, Shettar held a secret meeting with the party national general secretary Ananth Kumar “to finish off Yeddyurappa politically.”
The notice to Kumar was issued by Raghunathrao Malkapure, State general secretary, on directions from party president K S Eshwarappa. The notice stated that the party had noticed in the last few days Kumar belittling the leaders besides using derogatory language against government, the chief minister and other leaders of the party.
“You are an active member of the party and also had held various responsible positions in the party. The words you have used against the leaders amount to anti-party activity”, Malkapure said.
The notice asked Kumar to reply within seven days, failing which unilateral action would be taken against him.
Shettar had recently removed Kumar from the post of special representative of Karnataka in New Delhi.
Kumar was appointed when Yeddyurappa became the chief minister. The post was continued when D V Sadananda Gowda became the chief minister.
The BJP did not give any reason for not continuing him in the post after Shettar became the chief minister.
Another person to incur the wrath of the party was Rajya Sabha member Ayanur Manjunath, who had criticised Deputy Chief Minister R Ashoka by stating he had failed to effectively handle the KSRTC and BMTC employees’ strike.
When Deccan Herald sought his reaction, Kumar said he would reply to the notice after it reached him. “Even before I received the notice, it has reached the media houses. So, the intention of the party is clear,” he said sarcastically.
No regrets, says Kumar
He said: “I have no regrets for whatever I stated. But my utterings do not violate party discipline.”
“The situation is like Nero playing the fiddle as Rome burned. Shettar, taking tight police security, was confined to his bungalow when the people were expressing their angst against the release of Cauvery water. He should have been one among the people to understand their sentiments and console them. This is for the first time such a thing has happened in Karnataka,” he said.
Asked why the party did not issue notices to Somashekara Reddy and his associate MLAs of Bellary who have identified with the BSR Congress, Malkapure said: “The Bellary issue is different. It was a suicide squad. There was no need for the party to take action.”