BENGALURU: Four Dalit ministers in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet, including Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara, writing to the Congress high command opposing the nomination of former Directorate of Enforcement officer Sudham Das to the Legislative Council has come as an embarrassment to the party in the state.
In a letter to AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, the four ministers, including KH Muniyappa, RB Timmapur and Dr HC Mahadevappa, have said that “they must be taken into confidence before finalising the names for nomination to the Upper House”.
Das, who joined the Congress just before the Assembly elections, has been considered for the position under the social service quota. “...so far, neither the state leaders nor the high command have discussed this matter with us. We terribly felt let down. We strongly urge that regional balance and social engineering shall be adhered to in selecting the candidates,” the four ministers stated in the letter. They raised their objection to the nomination of Das as his contribution to the party is almost “nil”.
Meanwhile, a Congress leader close to the high command said that the top brass has already taken a decision and there will be no going back. Meanwhile, the Opposition BJP too hit out at the government over the issue. “The Dalit leaders have finally woken up in the state @INCKarnataka government. @siddaramaiah wrote a long letter to the High Command questioning the anti-Dalit move.
The KPCC President @DKShivakumar complained against the contractor who wrote the letter and got him interrogated. It is curious as to which station he is now complaining about this open letter”, tweeted the BJP. The Congress has finalised the names of Das and former ministers Umashree and MR Seetharam and sent it to the Governor for this approval.