BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has sacked MLC Naseer Ahmed as his political secretary. The CM’s hands were forced by the party high command in the aftermath of the Davanagere South byelection, in which the Muslim community was apparently upset with the choice of the Congress candidate.
The first victim was Abdul Jabbar who had to step down as president of KPCC Minority Cell. Next in line could be Minister for Housing, Zameer Ahmed Khan.
Siddaramaiah had asked Naseer Ahmed to resign but the latter resisted, and wanted to be a ‘victim’ to gain sympathies of the Muslim constituency as the one who had pushed for the community’s cause to get a candidate of their choice, according to sources. “The CM has taken a decision on Naseer after getting information from various sources on his own and in the interest of the party,” Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said on Tuesday.
Naseer failed to fulfill his responsibility: DKS
Shivakumar said that the party had instructed Naseer to go to Davangere South and make the rebel candidate Saqiq Pailwan withdraw his papers. “He has failed to fulfill this responsibility. I am yet to receive a report on what happened there,” he maintained. When asked if disciplinary action will be taken against Zameer as well, he quipped, “I have no information about this.”
The trio, identified as staunch loyalists of Siddaramaiah, has been facing charges of having indulged in anti-party activities pertaining to bypolls to Davanagere South assembly constituency as the party denied ticket to a Muslim member and instead picked Samarth Shamanuru, son of Horticulture Minister SS Mallikarjun, as its candidate.
Zameer on Tuesday met Siddaramaiah at the latter’s residence and gave explanation over the issue and claimed he has not indulged in any anti-party activity.
RDPR minister Priyank Kharge, AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge’s son, and social welfare Dr HC Mahadevappa were also present during the discussion which lasted for about 10 minutes.
“I don’t know why Jabbar has resigned. I just found out that he has resigned. And about Nazeer, I’m not sure if he has been removed. I don’t know the reason for it. The CM called everyone to his house and we are all going there now,” Zameer told reporters before meeting the CM.
“It’s true that there was some disenchantment in the Muslim community over the denial of the ticket. Later, everything became alright, and they have supported our party candidate and we will win by a good margin,” he said.
The disciplinary action has come a few days after the polling was held on April 9 and well ahead of the results to be declared on May 4. The development is being interpreted as DK Shivakumar, apparently, striking at Siddaramaiah, and his camp, who wants to consolidate his position before the results to the bypolls and the five states are announced by carrying out the cabinet reshuffle by securing the high command’s nod, according to sources.
Collecting evidence against the Siddaramaiah camp members’ alleged anti-party activities, Shivakumar managed to get the AICC secretary and Karnataka in-charge, Abhishek Dutt, to file a report to the party bosses, they added. He has taken the Zameer’s rival camp within the party, including the Chief Whip in the Council, Saleem Ahmed, and Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad into confidence.
Since Siddaramaiah camp members had been campaigning for the latter to continue in the CM post for the remaining two years, Shivakumar has also started targeting them, according to sources. He has warned the senior MLAs led by party Chief Whip Ashok M Pattan, also Siddaramaiah’s aide, who have camped in New Delhi lobbying for cabinet berths expecting the reshuffle.
“There is nothing wrong with the MLAs going to Delhi and demanding ministerial berths. Let them make their demands known but the party’s discipline should be adhered to. They are all our colleagues, therefore, I have appealed to them to maintain discipline. I have advised them to be careful while responding to media queries,” he warned in a subtle manner.