BENGALURU: It was a day packed with political action. Senior Congress leader Roshan Baig fired a salvo at the Congress state leadership, setting off a political firestorm. The immediate provocation appeared to be the exit poll prediction.
H D Kumaraswamy, who was to join the Opposition delegation to lodge a complaint against EVMs with the Election Commission in New Delhi, cancelled his trip. Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu airdashed to Bengaluru to meet Kumaraswamy and JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda.
Not to be left behind, the Congress too rushed AICC general secretary K C Vengugopal, state party president Dinesh Gundu Rao and CLP leader Siddaramaiah to meet Kumaraswamy at the Taj West End, where they are said to have discussed the exit polls and a counter strategy against poaching of MLAs.
Congress appeared to be the hardest hit. With the exit polls foretelling a possible rout for the party in the Lok Sabha elections, a silent rage is building up within the party, threatening to lead to an implosion. MLA Roshan Baig took party leaders head-on at a presser on Tuesday, blaming the troika of Venugopal, Siddaramaiah and Dinesh Gundu Rao for wrecking the party. Levelling a series of allegations, he called Siddaramaiah, his friend of 36 years, an “arrogant and selfish man”, general-secretary K C Venugopal a “buffoon” and party president Dinesh Gundu Rao a “flop show president”.
The six-time MLA alleged that ministries had been “auctioned to the highest bidders”. His anger stemmed from the fact that he was denied a ministerial berth, despite the Congress assuring seniors that they would be accommodated. Choosing to fire from the minority platform, Baig appealed to Muslims to “compromise with the situation” if the NDA returns to power.
KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao responded by slapping Baig with a show cause notice, drawing a defiant response, “I have received a show cause notice from the KPCC. I am not even going to bother to read it, because it is sent at the orders of the same people whose incompetencies were highlighted by me.’’
Emerging from a 90-minute meeting, Naidu said they had officially lodged a compliant with the EC and demanded paper ballots instead. Gowda concurred, saying they had consistently complained against EVMs from 2009 onwards.