Karnataka bypoll 'sabotage' row: War breaks out in Congress with Abdul Jabbar's suspension

Bengaluru: Congress on Wednesday suspended MLC Abdul Jabbar for “anti-party activities” during the April 9 Davangere South bypoll, triggering a backlash from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s loyalists.

Jabbar's expulsion, preceded by the sacking of Congress MLC Naseer Ahmed as the chief minister's political secretary, is being seen as Siddaramaiah's men being picked off one by one. There are also calls for action against Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, another Siddaramaiah loyalist.

All three -- Jabbar, Ahmed and Zameer -- have been accused of being involved in attempts to sabotage the Congress' election effort in Davangere South.

In a statement, Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar announced that Jabbar has been suspended from the party's primary membership. This, he said, was “in view of his anti-party activities in the recent by-election of Davanagere South assembly constituency.”

It was only last week that Jabbar resigned as chairperson of the Congress' minorities department, which Shivakumar accepted.

It is widely believed that Jabbar, Ahmed and Zameer were miffed that the Davangere South bypoll ticket was not given to Muslims whose votes are decisive in that constituency. The Congress fielded its late MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s grandson Samarth.

Hitting back, Jabbar said his suspension made it clear that there was "differential treatment" within the party. He asked why there was no action against Shamanur Shivashankarappa when he openly canvassed for BJP veteran BS Yediyurappa's son BY Raghavendra during the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

"I should've been asked before being suspended. I should've been told the basis on which I was being suspended. I could've responded," Jabbar said.

Jabbar said that the party's Minority Legislators Forum wanted a Muslim to get the Davangere South ticket. "If not a Muslim, we said some other unrepresented community, even Kurubas, should get the ticket," he said. "Our point was that one household (Shamanur family) shouldn't get so much representation," he said. Shamanur's son SS Mallikarjun is an MLA and a minister, while his wife Prabha is the Davangere MP.

Former minister KN Rajanna, the CM's loyalist who was sacked from the Cabinet last year, wondered why there was no action against Shivakumar for rubbing shoulders with 'Sadhguru' Jaggi Vasudev. "Sadhguru said he didn't know who Rahul Gandhi was. Won't sharing the stage with him amount to violating discipline? There's a proverb that the king faces no punishment. That's how things are in the party right now," Rajanna said.