M R Seetharam slams Congress, says he’ll decide next move

Former minister M R Seetharam on Friday publicly attacked the Congress leadership for the “injustice” he said he has faced over the years, making it apparent that all is not well in the party.

Seetharam vented his anger against the Congress at a convention of his supporters, including the Balija community to which he belongs, at Palace Grounds here.

“I am not disappointed with the party, but with the leaders who are running it. I am also as senior as them. I've worked in the party since 1983,” Seetharam said.

Seetharam, who belongs to a family that runs the MS Ramaiah brand of educational and healthcare institutions, has been sulking due to repeated denial of election tickets.

“In the 2018 Assembly election, I was asked by (the then) general secretary KC Venugopal to contest from Malleswaram. I told him that I should have been fielded in the 2013 polls after I lost Malleswaram in 2008. I said I can’t contest. In the MLC elections that followed, they should have re-nominated me. They didn’t because I didn’t do what they said. So, CM Ibrahim and K Govindaraj got re-nominated,” he said.

“In 2020 also, some party leaders said I’ll be the MLC candidate. I didn’t get the ticket. In the recent MLC election, I didn’t get the ticket although the consensus was that one OBC and one Muslim should be fielded,” he said.

“Four times, our leaders have done injustice to me,” Seetharam, who is seen as former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s loyalist, said.

He said he would convene a big meeting of his supporters next month to announce his decision on whether or not he will stay with the Congress.

The Balija community has sizable votes in some 40 assembly constituencies.

Friday’s convention was attended by several Congress leaders, including MLA BK Sanghamesh (Bhadravathi) and MLC MD Lakshminarayana.

Seetharam also pointed out that his son and former Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee president Raksha Ramaiah was made the Indian Youth Congress’ national general secretary as a “gift”. However, he said Raksha was not allowed to complete his full term as the Youth Congress president, making way for Shanthinagar MLA NA Haris’ son Mohammed Haris Nalapad.

While Sanghamesh urged the party leadership to “make good for the injustice” done to Seetharam, Lakshminarayana said it was “a conspiracy” to sideline the backward class leader. He even warned the party of backlash from OBC voters.