Amidst the threat of dissident activities by some Congress legislators over Cabinet berths, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka K.C. Venugopal on Sunday warned them of serious action for indiscipline and said such blackmail techniques will not be tolerated.
“We have confidence in our MLAs and the Congress is strong enough to tackle this situation. The party does not accept blackmail techniques and threats. It is strong enough to take action,” he told presspersons here. “We also know ground realities and that is why we are not taking any action. If there are instances (of indiscipline), we will verify such cases. Congress will look into these issues seriously,” he said.
Blaming the BJP for the current political situation, Mr. Venugopal said: “One of our MLAs told me that B.S. Yeddyurappa had made a WhatsApp call to him offering money and power to cross over to the BJP. Where does the BJP get this amount?” He, however, did not reveal the name of the legislator.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leaders, including former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Water Resources Minister D.K. Shivakumar, met party legislators who are apparently miffed over not getting ministerial berths and are lobbying hard keeping an eye on the anticipated Cabinet expansion.
K. Sudhakar, Chickballapur MLA, who has been lobbying to get into the Cabinet during the next expansion, had a long meeting with Mr. Siddaramaiah on Sunday morning.
“I have requested Mr. Siddaramaiah to consider my capability during Cabinet expansion. There is no question of quitting Congress. I will move forward as advised by Mr. Siddaramaiah and Congress president Rahul Gandhi,” he told reporters after his meeting.
In another development of the day, Mr. Shivakumar, accompanied by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and Food and Civil Supplies Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, met M.T.B. Nagaraj, Hoskote MLA, at his residence.
Sources said that Mr. Nagaraj, who has been identified among the Cabinet aspirants along with Dr. Sudhakar, has been nursing an ambition to be Minister since he had won from Hoskote for the third term. While he conveyed his thoughts, Mr. Shivakumar and others advised him to have patience, sources said. “He is a senior Congress leader and has the credentials to become Minister. He is a principled man and will not quit the party. We are all with him and the party will not let him down,” Mr. Shivakumar told presspersons after meeting Mr. Nagaraj.
