Fallout from 'vote chori': D K Shivakumar refuses comment on K N Rajanna's letter to Rahul Gandhi

Shivakumar also said that the appointment of Booth Level Officers for voter list verification, as well as the 'vote chori' issue that the Congress high command is raising, are two different issues.

New Delhi: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state unit president, refused on Tuesday to comment on former minister K N Rajanna's letter to top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi regarding the fallout from the 'vote chori' remark and highlighting organisational lapses.

"I am here on official work to meet Union Ministers and discuss pending issues of my departments. I don't want to answer any questions on politics," Shivakumar told reporters.

He also said that during his two-day stay in the national capital, he had no plans to meet party leaders.

Separately, senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad told the media that a panel headed by senior Congress leader and Central Election Authority (CEA) chairman Madhusudan Mistry had already discussed the reasons for the Congress's poor performance in the last Lok Sabha polls.

Karnataka leaders also gave statements before the Mistry-headed panel.The panel knows the reasons. The party's top brass is seized of the matter, he said.

He also said that the appointment of Booth Level Officers for voter list verification, as well as the 'vote chori' issue that the Congress high command is raising, are two different issues.

In his meeting with Shivakumar, Hariprasad said that since Shivakumar is also the KPCC president, he met him. Like him, many leaders meet him. There is no politics in it.

Since Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has already said that the leadership issue is a local matter and state-level leaders will resolve it among themselves, there should be an end to all confusion. All leaders should abide by Kharge's statement, he said.

Hariprasad also supported the Kharge statement that the party came to power in Karnataka due to the hard work of the workers and we must recognise them and reward them with posts like boards and corporations.