BENGALURU: Even as discontent brewed among Congress legislators left out of the cabinet with many threatening to resign, Chief Minister DK Shivakumar sent out a strong message, saying, “If a resignation is submitted, it will be accepted within minutes.”
After 19 ministers, including some new faces, were inducted into the ministry on Monday, many senior party leaders openly expressed their displeasure, while their followers took to the streets and tendered their resignation.
On Monday evening, Indi MLA Yashwantharayagouda Patil submitted his resignation to Deputy Speaker Rudrappa Lamani.
“No one can stop those who want to resign. If a resignation is submitted, I will accept it within minutes. All of this happens in politics. In the past, when G Parameshwara and I did not get ministerial posts, were we not patient? If you want a political future, the party is paramount,” the CM said.
Shivakumar said he and Parameshwara were denied ministerial posts in the cabinets of Dharam Singh and Siddaramaiah. In 2013, under Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar was inducted into the ministry only a few months after the government was formed, and not in the first phase. “Couldn’t I have resigned then? During Veerendra Patil’s time, Bangarappa was not made a minister. Didn’t Bangarappa and Dharam Singh become chief ministers later? Mallikarjun Kharge was also not given a position,” he said.