JOIN USExpelled ZP members to demand removal of DCC prez
The recent expulsion of eight Congress members from the party has snowballed into a political controversy with the expelled members demanding dismissal of the District Congress Committee president Munikrishnappa.
“It is very strange that the DCC president who has not even seen our faces, has expelled us from the party. The act is condemnable too. We will urge the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president to remove him from the post,” the expelled members told a press meet here on Monday.
K N Keshava Reddy, an expelled ZP member said that they had been expelled though they were not involved in any anti-party activity.
He claimed that the DCC president had no authority to issue a whip or to expel them from the party and it appeared that he had no knowledge of the restrictions on his authority.
“Apart from Munikrishnappa, Lok Sabha member K H Muniyappa and Chikkaballapur legislator Dr K Sudhakhar have a role in our expulsion. This action has been taken since we did not obey their diktat,” Reddy said.
He said that they had not been called for any meeting and there was neither any discussion on whip. A group of Congress members have discussed the issue among themselves.
Zilla Panchayat has 15 members and there was no specific direction to elect a Congressman for the post.
“Without issuing any clear directions, we have been expelled on the charge of anti-party activities,” Reddy said.
“Munikrishnappa should have discussed with us if he really had the intention that a Congressman should be elected as Zilla Panchayat president. He was very much in the ZP office on the date of election and could have talked to us. But no one knew that he came and discussed the issue with other members,” he said.
‘Not anti-party activity’
Another member P V Raghavendra Hanuman said that himself, Chinnappa, Chinnappayya, Keshava Reddy and Krishnappa had functioned as Zilla Panchayat president and vice president for respective terms and they had never worked against the party.
He challenged the DCC president to initiate action against a Congress member, who supported a BJP member for the ZP president’s post.
S N Chinnappa said that legislator Dr K Sudhakar was against election of P N Munegowda (JDS) as ZP president. He had intended to make Harinatha Reddy (JDS) as president since election of Gowda would have proved detrimental for the MLA.
Chinnappa said that the MLA had told Harinatha Reddy that he would be made the ZP president. But the last-minute developments did not allow it. A disappointed Reddy later supported Munegowda for the post.
He said that the JD(S) and CPM members had co-operated for their election as ZP presidents and vice presidents. “We have allowed a JD(S) member to occupy the post as agreed early. We have elected Radhamma Gangadharappa as the vice president who has co-operated with us in every election,” he said.