Beware of sycophants, Surjewala cautions CM aspirants in Congress

When asked what ailed the Yediyurappa government in Karnataka, Surjewala said the government should be sacked and fresh elections must be held

Amid factional fights in Karnataka Congress, AICC General Secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala told DH in an interview that chief ministerial aspiration was good so long it did not violate party discipline. He also cautioned party leaders of sycophants trying to earn “brownie points” by praising them.

Do you think Congress is in a position to earn the trust of the people with Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar at loggerheads with each other? Why this sudden urge to project the next chief minister when assembly polls are two years away?

Congress Party is the only trustworthy political outfit as BJP and other parties are plagued by political bankruptcy, rank opportunism, defaulting ideology and myopic vision for the development of the State. The Congress government between 2013-2018 executed ‘Vision Karnataka’ by concrete schemes and welfare measures, be it the ‘Indira Canteens’, the subsidized cooked food programme; ‘Krishi Bhagya’ for helping the farmers in rain-fed areas; ‘Anna Bhagya’ for food grains for the poor for free; ‘Pashu Bhagya’ to help farmers from SC/ST to rear cattle and poultry; ‘Ksheera Bhagya’ for free milk to schools and anganwadis and ‘Arogya Bhagya’ for free healthcare. Let me remind you that Bengaluru emerged as the most entrepreneurial city and Congress executed 42 kms of Metro lines in five years besides setting up the world’s largest solar power project. We also built Asia’s largest drip irrigation facility in Bagalkot.

As against this, the Yediyurappa government is founded upon an illicit majority, unsanctioned by the vote of the people of Karnataka and guided by the ‘maximum loot, zero governance’ principle. The word ‘trust’ is alien to this government of defectors, by defectors and for looting the spoils of power.

As qua certain statements of Congress leaders projecting one or the other individual as possible chief minister, I will say that aspiration is good and necessary as long as it does not violate the party’s discipline and commitment to serve the people. All leaders, including Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar recognises this and have publicly acknowledged the same. Party will accept no indiscipline from anybody and the leaders should also be wary of the sycophants trying to earn brownie points by being more loyal than the king. Congress is the only party that has immense talent and wisdom in Karnataka and we will utilize every individual for taking the State forward. As per the time-tested practice, we will fight the election unitedly and Congress legislators as also the Congress leadership will decide the issue of leadership.

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Does the AICC plan to revamp the Karnataka Congress? Shivakumar says he wants to remove existing office-bearers.

Organization building is a continuous process. The State Congress Committee had been dissolved, except for the President and the Working Presidents. We have held elaborate discussions on the new PCC office bearers. I am also visiting some parts of the State again in the coming week. We shall be reorganizing the PCC very shortly. The purpose is not restricted to State office bearers alone but we shall examine and review the effectiveness of every District & Block Congress Committee Presidents and make changes as the need arises. The purpose is to give a new leadership role to the members of Scheduled Castes (both Left and Right), the Backward Classes, the Scheduled Tribes, the young, the agrarian communities as also the aspirational classes. I have discussed with the PCC President and CLP Leader the need for the constitution of village and ward committees across the State. I believe that a strong, dedicated and committed organisation is the key to power and service of the people.

What is your assessment of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in Karnataka?

Chief Minister and his Cabinet are guilty of criminal negligence and mismanagement of pandemic and loss of over 35,000 lives, which are just officially reported deaths. Of course, the Civil Registration System (CRS) in Karnataka has recorded over 1,70,000 deaths between April, 2020 to May 2021. Do Yediyurappa and his Cabinet colleagues have no remorse, for over 50% of these innocent Kannadigas could be saved with proper preparation & planning?

The Health Department in Karnataka became a game of musical chairs as between the first and the second wave, the Chief Minister abruptly removed the Health Minister, B. Sriramulu and replaced him with K Sudhakar. There was neither any cohesion or coordination but utter chaos in handling the pandemic with no access to public information or accountability. People suffered and gasped for breath owing to the unavailability of oxygen, Remdesivir-Tocilizumab-Dexona injections and medicines, ICU beds and ventilators. The government seriously floundered in the test-track-isolate-treat policy altogether. The private hospitals had a field day overcharging hapless patients and there was rampant black marketeering of essential medicines.

All through the pandemic, Shri Yediyurappa was preoccupied in ‘Dissident Control’ rather than ‘Disease Control’. ‘Saving the Chief Minister’s Chair’ instead of ‘Saving the People’ has been the sole object of the Chief Minister. No wonder, the BJP Govt in Karnataka has endangered people’s lives. Sadly, it continues to do so even today with gross mismanagement of the vaccination programme. Time has come that the Chief Minister went beyond ‘managing the dissidents’ to ‘managing the disease’.

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The BJP appears to be in a disarray in Karnataka with dissidents openly questioning Chief Minister, Yediyurappa. Your comments.

BJP is running an illegitimate government in Karnataka. Naturally, the contradictions of hijacking the people’s mandate through defectors are apparent. The truth is that the Yediyurappa government is crumbling every day like a house of cards and the people of Karnataka are paying the price for this gross mal-governance, maladministration and corruption.

Never in the history of India would a sitting minister have written to the Governor citing ‘authoritarianism’ of the Chief Minister as witnessed in the case of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Minister, K S Eshwarappa. If he is right, why not sack the Chief Minister and if he is wrong, why not sack the minister?

Senior BJP leaders including Basanagouda Patil Yatnal, A.H. Vishwanath, C P Yogeeshwara, Arvind Bellad, M.P. Renukacharya and dozens of others have raised the banner of revolt citing rampant corruption, zero governance, absolute misrule, paralyzing inefficiency and illicit hold of Chief Minister’s son and his family members over the government. All this is happening as everybody shares the spoils of power. Most intriguing is the fact as to why is the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi absolutely ‘mum’?

What, in your opinion, is the solution to what ails the Yediyurappa government?

The solution is simple. Sack the illegitimate BJP government and hold fresh elections.

How can a Chief Minister facing an ongoing corruption probe remain in office? The latest verdict of the court rejecting the closure report against Yediyurappa is sufficient to remove him and dismiss this government. Can a Chief Minister lord over a corruption investigation against himself and can the police investigate fairly? If not, how can he continue in office?

Moreover, this is the ‘One Scam a Day’ government. There has been no investigation of the BDA tender Scam, wherein specific allegations and WhatsApp chats involving CM’s grandson, Shri Shashidhar Maradi were released and the name of CM’s son was mentioned. There was evidence of a trail of money. The latest revelation regarding alleged corruption in the Chairmanship of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board has further shocked everyone. The truth is that continuation of the BJP government in Karnataka even for a second is harmful to the interests of Karnataka as also its people.