The former Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader V. Dhananjay Kumar has attracted the wrath of the party for publicly doubting on whether Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda will present the State Budget.
Mr. Kumar had recently remarked at a press conference that “Mr. Gowda has made hard preparations for the budget. But a BJP Chief Minister will present the budget.”
Taking serious exception to such remarks, BJP State president K.S. Eshwarappa on Saturday said that such a statement indicating “uncertainty” was wrong. He said he would take up the issue with party's national president Nitin Gadkari.
Mr. Eshwarappa asserted that the question of wondering as to who would present the budget did not arise at all as Mr. Gowda was set to execute that job in his capacity as Chief Minister who also holds the Finance portfolio. “I do not know why Mr. Dhanajay Kumar made such a statement as he is not even the party spokesperson,” he said.
He said though Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Jagadish Shettar too had made a statement similar to this, he issued a clarification later in a bid to remove confusion.
When mediapersons drew his attention on the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa reportedly stating that Mr. Gowda was the Chief Minister for the “present”, Mr. Eshwarappa refused to comment and said one had to seek clarification from Mr. Yeddyurappa himself on such a statement.