Karnataka Congress leaders miffed as MLA's fans create ruckus

Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah cut short his speech at a Congress event on Tuesday after he was obstructed with slonganeering by the supporters of party MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan.

This happened at an event where former MLC K Abdul Jabbar formally took charge as the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee's (KPCC) minority wing president.

Khan, the Chamarajpet MLA, was not at the event, but his supporters relentlessly shouted slogans in his support, flashing placards carrying his photograph.

At one point during his speech, Siddaramaiah asked fellow partymen on the dais who the rabble-rousers were. "They are Zameer's people. They've been doing this since morning," Siddaramaiah was told.

The sycophancy not only forced Siddaramaiah to end his speech abruptly, but prompted Congress leaders to plead with Khan's supporters to stop fuss.

"Sit down, people. Zameer Ahmed Khan is our brother, but he's not here. If you don't allow anybody to speak, how can that be allowed," Shantinagar MLA NA Haris said.

KPCC president DK Shivakumar got so angry that he called them "traitors of Congress" for obstructing Siddaramaiah's speech. "If you don't lower your boards, I'll have you thrown out of the Congress office. I won't allow one individual to be worshipped. Only Congress worship will be allowed," Shivakumar thundered. "You stopped the Opposition leader's speech. You are traitors of Congress!"

Khan, a Siddaramaiah loyalist, is seen as one of the prominent Muslim faces of the Congress in the state.

'BJP deleting Muslim names'

During his speech, Shivakumar accused BJP workers of deleting Muslim names from the electoral rolls. "Muslim youth should come together against this," he said. "Form groups to stop this. I will form a committee as well. We must stop such disenfranchisement."
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