Senior Congress leader and MP Veerappa Moily's tweet alleging nexus between road contractors and the state PWD minister, has cased a major embarrassment to the Siddaramaiah government in Karnataka.
On Thursday night, Moily, who is also the party's manifesto committee chairman, tweeted saying, “INC needs to solve money in politics. We can't afford to have road contractors and their nexus with the state PWD minister determine how candidates are selected for the upcoming Assembly elections”.
Screenshot of a tweet appeared on Veerappa Moily's official Twitter handle on Thursday. The tweet was later removed.
Interestingly, the same tweet has been posted on Moily's son Harsha's twitter handle too, tagging AICC president Rahul Gandhi and Siddaramaiah.
On Friday morning, PWD Minister H.C. Mahadevappa, a close confidante of Siddaramaiah remained confined to his official residence in Bengaluru, though most of his party leaders flew to Delhi to attend the AICC plenary session.
When prodded by the media, Mahadevapa said, “Moily is our senior leader. I am in no way connected to Moily's tweet. Since he has said he has not tweeted, I will not comment on it. Moily is capable of answering all these queries. The candidates list has not been finalised yet. My only desire is to see the Congress party retain power in Karnataka.”
While the Congress leaders including the chief minister chose not to react, it is learnt that they are furious over the veteran's comments. Any grievance should have been aired within the party forum rather than going public with it, especially ahead of a crucial election – is the sentiment shared by most Congress leaders. However, both the tweets have been deleted.
Meanwhile, insiders point out that Moily was upset over PWD minister objecting to Harsha Moily's candidature from Karkala, during the screening committee meeting held recently. Moily was disappointed over Mahadevappa proposing the name of a road contractor Uday Kumar Shetty instead of Harsha, as it was pointed out that there were at least 3-4 ticket aspirants from Karkala constituency, who had been active for a long time and Harsha had became visible only in the last one month.
Even as the Congress is evading any queries on the face-off within the party leaders, BJP seized the moment by “congratulating” Moily for “speaking the truth”. The BJP leaders also noted that the allegation made by the senior leader has re-endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charge that the Siddaramaiah government was “10 per cent commission Sarkar”.
BJP state president B.S Yeddyurappa, tweeted: With contractors filling PWD minister's deep pockets, state's coffers and roads are in tatters. Congress veteran's view validates our point.”
At last someone’s conscience in @INCKarnataka prodded him to speak up! @moilyv ji is right. We have been saying that @siddaramaiah is #10PercentCM. With contractors filling PWD min's deep pockets, state's coffers & roads are in tatters. Congress veteran’s view validates our point https://t.co/OpaWh1ZwPG
— B.S. Yeddyurappa (@BSYBJP) March 16, 2018
Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda also tweeted endorsing Moily's comment.
ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಟಿಕೆಟ್ ನೀಡುವ ವಿಷಯದಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಜ್ಯ ಲೋಕೋಪಯೋಗಿ ಸಚಿವ ಮತ್ತು ರಸ್ತೆ ಗುತ್ತಿಗೆದಾರರ ನಡುವಿನ ನಂಟಿನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಬಹಿರಂಗಪಡಿಸಿರುವ ಮಾನ್ಯ ಶ್ರೀ ಮೊಯ್ಲಿಯವರು ಕಾಮಗಾರಿ ಮಾಡದೆ 1500 ಕೋಟಿ ರೂ ಬಿಲ್ ಪಡೆದಿರುವ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಶಾಸಕ ಶ್ರೀ ಮುನಿರತ್ನ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಏನಂತಾರೆ ?ಈ ದುಡ್ಡು ಕೂಡಾ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಟಿಕೆಟ್ ಗಾ ? ಅಥವಾ ಚುನಾವಣಾ ಖರ್ಚಿಗಾ ?
— Sadananda Gowda (@DVSBJP) March 16, 2018
KPCC chief G. Parameshwara defended the party saying, “The candidate selection in the Congress Party has a long process. The district units propose names and the observers, too, seek local opinion on potential candidates. The list prepared by 47-member committee scrutinises the list with three names for each constituency. The list is later referred to the screening committee of the AICC. The 16-member central election committee will finalise the list. So, where is the question of money changing hands? Moily has maintained that it is not his tweet. We may have to refer to to cyber crime department. BJP's allegations are baseless.”
Meanwhile, senior leaders who quit the Congress party last year, too, launched a tirade against the party. Former minister A.H. Vishwanath, who quit the Congress to join the JD(S) charged that Mahadevappa was “CM's treasury”. “They are trying to fill up the coffers by selling the Congress party tickets now. This is the misfortune of this state,” said Vishwanath.
“PWD under the Congress government stands for Plunder Without Danger. Such plundering by Mahadevappa is not possible without CM's endorsement. Moily is a person heading the campaign committee and I have no reason to belive he is lying,” shot back dalit leader and former minister V. Srinivas Prasad, who migrated to the BJP citing “humiliation” in the Congress last year.