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The Congress appears to be in damage control mode after its own leaders criticised the party’s treatment of veterans Abdul Jabbar and Naseer Ahmed over the Davangere South bye-poll. Senior party leaders such as Satish Jarkiholi, BK Hariprasad and others have publicly stated that the party’s handling of the matter was likely to have repercussions.
A day after Muslim clerics criticised the Congress for disregarding due process, several senior Congress leaders also publicly said that the party did not handle the matter well.
The Congress removed MLC Naseer Ahmed from his post as political secretary to the CM on April 14 and suspended Abdul Jabbar from the primary membership of the party for “anti-party activities” on April 15. Abdul Jabbar was the president of the Congress’ minority cell.
These developments came after Congress leaders MLA Rizwan Arshad and Saleem Ahmed, MLC and Chief Whip in the Legislative Council, held a press conference after the Davangere South bye-poll, accusing “some leaders of working against the party’s official candidate”.
KPCC chief DK Shivakumar defended the disciplinary action taken against Abdul Jabbar and Naseer Ahmed, saying that the decision was taken by the top brass and said that “without Delhi’s permission and direction, we can’t take such action.”
Shivakumar said there was nothing personal about this decision and highlighted that the Congress stood for minority groups such as the Scheduled Castes and Tribes and Other Backward Classes. Congress is there to “give justice to all sections of the society," he said.
However, Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi told the media that he had spoken to Shivakumar about “damage control,” to avoid the perception that the Congress had targeted Muslims.
Jarkiholi said he had called for Jabbar to be reinstated. Shivakumar had assured him that a notice would be issued to Jabbar to seek his explanation on the incident, which would be discussed with the party top brass, Jarkiholi said.
These statements come along the heels of statements by senior Congress leader, BK Hariprasad who said that the action taken against Jabbar and Ahmed were without proper procedure.
He mentioned the state Congress disciplinary committee headed by former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan, and said that matters of anti-party activities had to be referred to the committee. He said that the Karnataka unit should have “followed this process,” and recalled a similar incident in Haryana which was appropriately resolved in one month.
Hariprasad also addressed the claims of action being taken against Minority Affairs Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan. He said that “some vested interests are spreading rumours about Zameer Ahmed’s resignation,” and called for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to issue a clarification to dispel the rumors.
But, amid claims of Siddaramaiah’s inner circle being targeted, there is a belief within the party that the Chief Minister is “helpless.” Senior MLA KN Rajanna, claimed that the Chief Minister was “under some compulsion.”
Rajanna mentioned how there will always be conspiracies against people who were loyal to the party, but it is expected for the Chief Minister to stand strong during these situations. “I don’t know what his thinking is. But we did not expect such a helpless situation from Siddaramaiah,” Rajanna said.
Rajanna highlighted the hypocrisy of these actions, by mentioning how no action was taken against Shivakumar complimenting UP CM Yogi Adityanath for arrangements made for the Kumbh Mela.
He also brought to notice that no action was taken against Shamanur Shivashankarappa when he made a speech calling for people to vote for BJP candidate BY Raghavandra. “The same people were at the helm then, even a verbal warning was not given to him (Shivashankarappa),” Rajanna said.
This article was written by a student interning with TNM.