Bengaluru, Aug 11 (PTI) The opposition BJP leaders on Monday said Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna was sacked from the Karnataka Cabinet for speaking the truth on the "vote theft" issue.
The BJP said the development also showed a divide within the ruling Congress in the state.
Terming the Minister's removal as a "betrayal" to the ST community, to which Rajanna belongs, BJP leader R Ashoka said the "revolutionary political developments" in the state that he had predicted by October, had begun in August itself, and the "government will collapse".
Rajanna, who is seen as Siddaramaiah's close aide, was removed from the Cabinet, following directions from the Congress high command, according to party sources.
"He (Rajanna) told the truth, that's why Rahul Gandhi (Congress leader) issued a notice to Rajanna, he is suspended now... Siddaramaiah is losing his wickets everyday. I said there will be a kranti (revolution) in October, it has started in August itself," Ashoka, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, "The Congress party is divided now between DK (Shivakumar) and Siddaramaiah, it (government) will collapse."
Claiming that Siddaramaiah's wickets are falling, and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar was growing strong, Ashoka said, "... every day Rajanna used to bat for Siddaramaiah with courage. Now Congress high command has directed that he be removed from the Cabinet. Why?"
Further, questioning Rahul Gandhi on internal democracy in the Congress party, he said, "Where is democracy? When Rahul Gandhi recently alleged vote theft in Karnataka during Lok Sabha polls, Rajanna spoke the truth by pointing out that Congress was in power in the state at that time. Congress was unable to bear the truth and sought his suspension. There is no democracy in Congress."
Rajanna's recent comments on the "vote theft" seem to have proved costly for him.
“When were the voter lists prepared? They were prepared under our (Congress) government. Were we all sleeping? It is true that there were irregularities. But we should be ashamed that those irregularities happened right in front of our eyes and we didn’t stop them. We must be cautious going forward," he had said.
Questioning his own party men as to what they were doing when objections were invited after draft electoral rolls were prepared, Rajanna asked, "Shouldn’t we have checked the draft electoral rolls after they were published? We should have filed objections. Having been quiet then, we are raising this now."
Rajanna is the second minister to be out of Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet, after the Congress came to power in 2023.
Last year, Bellary MLA B Nagendra had to resign following allegations against him in connection with embezzlement at the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation.
State BJP President B Y Vijayendra said, Rajanna, a senior ST leader was removed from the Cabinet for merely speaking the truth - an honest admission which every Kannadiga knows.
He said, in Congress, the truth is "treated as a threat", especially when it comes from a leader of a marginalised community, whose voice they have long "tried to silence".
"This is the true face of Congress anti-Dalit, anti-ST, anti-democratic and anti-truth. It also exposes the hollowness of Siddaramaiah’s claims of championing the AHINDA cause. When leaders from these communities are targeted, he does not defend them. Instead, he bows to the diktats of the Delhi High Command to safeguard his own position as Chief Minister," he added.
AHINDA is Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes, and Dalits.