Karnataka Cooperation Minister K.N. Rajanna has tendered his resignation on Monday, following his criticism of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegations against the Election Commission.
According to media reports, the minister took the decision to resign after the Congress high command demanded action against Rajanna for criticising the “vote theft” charge levelled by Gandhi. CM Siddaramaiah has accepted the resignation of the minister.
Rajanna, reportedly a close aide of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, resigned on the first day of the Monsoon session of the Karnataka legislature.
Reports appearing in Kannada media suggest that he was asked to resign. Rajanna held a meeting with the CM in the Vidhana Soudha. Sources in the CM office said his recent statement against Rahul Gandhi proved fatal for the Minister.
Besides, his name was not in the list of ministers who would be hosting the national flag on the Independence Day, although he was the district-in-charge minister of Hassan. According to Vijaykarnataka, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda will be hoisting the flag.
Reacting to the "vote theft" allegations made by Rahul Gandhi, Rajanna had admitted that irregularities may have taken place, but the voter list was prepared when the Congress government was in power. "Look, if we just start talking about such things casually, there will be different opinions. When was the voter list prepared? It was prepared when our own government was in power. At that time, was everyone just sitting quietly with eyes closed? These irregularities did take place — that’s the truth. There is nothing false in this."
Over his statement on Rahul Gandhi's allegations against EC, Karnataka Minister K N Rajanna says, "Look, if we just start talking about such things casually, there will be different opinions. When was the voter list prepared? It was prepared when our own government was in power.… pic.twitter.com/i8W80aAJvr
— ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2025
These irregularities happened right in front of our eyes, he had said and added that the state government should be assigned.
"We didn’t take care of it at the time. That’s why we must be alert in the future....In Mahadevapura, there was indeed fraud. One person was registered in three different places and voted in all three. But when the draft electoral rolls are being prepared, we have to monitor it, right?...When the draft electoral rolls are made, we must file objections — that is our responsibility. At that time, we kept quiet and now we are talking," he had said.
Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar had accused him and a few others in the party of trying to destabilise the party and urged the Congress high command to take a serious note of it.
A few months ago, Rajanna had alleged there was a honeytrap racket targeting MLAs and ministers in Karnataka and urged Home Minister G. Parameshwara to order an investigation to expose the “producers, directors and actors” behind the racket.
However, media reports claim that he received little support from anyone in the cabinet and even expressed his dissatisfaction with Siddaramaiah on the lack of progress in the investigation. This lack of cooperation too appeared to have angered Rajanna.
