Siddaramaiah’s trusted loyalists make surprise exit

‘Latest development expected to weaken his leadership in the party’

Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah, who called the shots in Karnataka Congress, seems to have suffered a jolt as a sizeable number of his “loyalists” have deserted the party by resigning from the Legislative Assembly.

MLAs who were identified as Mr. Siddaramaiah’s followers — S.T. Somashekar (Yeshwantpur), Byrathi Basavaraj (K.R. Puram), Munirathna (R.R. Nagar), B.C. Patil (Hirekerur), Pratapgouda Patil (Maski), Shivaram Hebbar (Yellapur) — have tendered their resignation from the membership of the Assembly.

The first three, in particular, were a surprise addition to the list. They were identified as Mr. Siddaramaiah’s “confidants” and one line of thinking is that the trio would not have taken a call on leaving the partyfold without the “consent” of the former Chief Minister.

In Mr. Somashekar’s case, Mr. Siddaramaiah had ensured the post of Bangalore Development Authority chairman went to him. But the MLA had been complaining that he had little power in the authority owing to alleged interference of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s office. Mr. Somashekar was one of the ministerial aspirants in the coalition government

Though Mr. Siddaramaiah had ensured the post of Bangalore Development Authority chairman went to Mr. Somashekar, the MLA had been complaining that he had little power in the authority owing to alleged interference of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy’s office. Mr. Somashekar was one of the ministerial aspirants in the coalition government.

As for Mr. Basavaraj, who belongs to the Kuruba community to which Mr. Siddaramaiah too belongs, he was appointed chairman of Karnataka Soaps and Detergents Ltd. and a member of the BDA by the coalition government.

Further, it was Mr. Siddaramaiah who had lobbied hard to ensure Assembly election ticket to Byrathi Suresh, a relative of Mr. Basavaraj, in 2018 from Hebbal constituency in the city.

The former Chief Minister had defended Mr. Munirathna on several occasions. These trusted MLAs distancing themselves from Mr. Siddaramaiah is expected to weaken his leadership, sources in the Congress said. The sources suspect that more loyalists of the former Chief Minister are likely to say goodbye to the party in the days to come.