Ousted Karnataka minister K.N. Rajanna to meet Rahul Gandhi, says he’s victim of ‘big conspiracy’

Karnataka Congress leader K.N. Rajanna, who was sacked from the Siddaramaiah cabinet over his remarks on the party's ‘vote theft’ agitation on Monday, said he would meet the high command to address the “misconceptions” about him.

 

A close aide of the chief minister, Rajanna said he was the victim of a “big conspiracy” and that some party MLAs would join him in his Delhi trip.

 

“Our party high command, our party president and Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal have some misconceptions about me. I will go to New Delhi to meet them all to try to clear the air,"  he told reporters in Bengaluru.

 

"Whatever I may say, but the final thing is that I am committed to the party high command,” he added.

 

According to reports, Rajanna’s removal from the cabinet was sought by senior leader Rahul Gandhi, who has been leading the party’s campaign against the Narendra Modi government and the Election Commission over the allegations of ‘vote theft’ and poll rigging.

 

The party leadership feels that Rajanna’s remark that the Congress should also take responsibility for the alleged irregularities in the Mahadevapura assembly segment has weakened the party’s offensive against the BJP government at the Centre.

 

"One should remember that voter lists were revised when our own govt was at the helm. Why did our party turn a blind eye then? It is true that there are irregularities, but it is insulting for us that it happened right under our nose,” Rajanna had said.

 

On Monday, however, the former minister expressed support for Gandhi’s ‘vote theft’ agitation and reiterated his loyalty to the party.

 

Rajanna’s remarks on 'vote theft' allegations and his sacking from the cabinet have exposed the widening rift in the Karnataka Congress between the factions of Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

 

It was the Shivakumar-led camp that accused the Rajanna of trying to destabilise the party and urged the high command to take a serious note of it.

India