The Karnataka government has again denied permission to rival Congress for the swearing-in ceremony of DK Shivakumar, who takes over as the President of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.

With this, the BS Yediyurappa-led state government has denied permission for the event for the third time. Reacting to the development, the Karnataka Congress has claimed that the state government is indulging in vendetta politics. 

The  'Pratijna Dina' or Pledge Day program was scheduled to be held on June 14. The Congress said that the event was to be held across 7800 locations in the state and was supposed to be held with precautions to arrest the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

According to party sources, Shivakumar who is known to be a firm believer of astrology wanted to be sworn in on June 7 as suggested by his astrologers.

A party insider claimed that there was no reason for the permission to be disallowed.

The source said, “We are not even having a crowd anywhere. Just panchayat level meetings with social distancing. We have already rehearsed it multiple days and have taught people to use Zoom apps for video conferencing and practice physical distancing.”

Shivakumar, who was former minister in multiple governments including the recent HD Kumaraswamy government was appointed as the KPCC president on March 11. The appointment came post the poor performance of the party in the Lok Sabha Elections and the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) alliance government.

He succeeded former minister and son of former Chief Minister, Dinesh Gundu Rao. 

The party had initially planned to hold the event on March 31 and later postponed it to June 7 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. But his request was not granted as guidelines issued by the state and central governments as part of the COVID-19 restrictions bans political congregations.

Speaking to reporters on this, Shivakumar had said that only a meeting of 150 people will take place in every area and it won’t compromise the safety protocols.

In an interview with TNM, Shivakumar who had earned the moniker of troubleshooter in chief for his party had said that he wants to transform the party into a cadre-based outfit.