Bengaluru: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has ordered the ‘removal’ of his lone surviving political secretary, Naseer Ahmed, over allegations of anti-party activities and alleged funding of rebel candidates to help defeat the Congress candidate in the 9 April Davanagere South assembly bypoll.
The order comes at least two days after Ahmed’s refusal to resign voluntarily.
Ahmed, a senior Congress leader and a member of the Karnataka Legislative Council, was appointed as one of two political secretaries to the chief minister in June 2023. The latest order, dated 13 April, stated that Ahmed’s 2023 appointment has been “withdrawn” and “he has been relieved immediately from the post of the chief minister’s political secretary”.
Ahmed’s removal is part of a broader crackdown by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) against those an internal inquiry found to be indulging in anti-party activities and conspiring against the party’s official candidate in the Davanagere South bypoll.
At least one report by AICC secretary Karnataka in-charge Abhishek Dutt and another by the state intelligence points to the alleged role of several Muslim leaders from the Congress, including incumbent Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, in the controversy.
“Several leaders of the minority community were found to be openly conspiring to defeat our candidate (Samarth Shamnur Mallikarjun) by funding rebel candidates to split the Muslim vote that would help the BJP,” said one Congress Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) directly aware of the developments. The MLA requested anonymity.
Calls, messages on WhatsApp and voicemail seeking comments from Ahmed did not elicit any response.
Abdul Jabbar, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) minority cell chief, has already stepped down from his post after his rebellion and alleged role in the entire controversy. The chain of events has left the Congress in a precarious position with its central body taking action against Muslim leaders within the party fold and fuelling apprehension in its core support base.
In June last year, Siddaramaiah’s other political secretary, K.Govindraj, was removed from his role in pressuring the government to hold a felicitation ceremony for Royal Challengers Bengaluru on their maiden IPL championship trophy. However, a chain of events including poor crowd management and ineffective communication led to a stampede that led to the death of 11 people near the Chinnaswamy Cricket Stadium a few hours later.
Ahmed and Govindaraj are considered close aides of Siddaramaiah but missed making it to the Council of Ministers. Siddaramaiah, however, carved out several posts within his administration that accorded lofty titles with Cabinet rank and perks to nearly 150 people, including the likes of Ahmed.
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The controversy
Shamnur Shivashankarappa, a veteran Congress leader and incumbent MLA from Davanagere South, died on December 14 last year. He was 94.
Shivashankarappa, one of the biggest leaders of the dominant Lingayat community, was the head of a large political dynasty. Shivashankarappa’s son S.S. Mallikarjun is Karnataka’s minister for Mines & Geology, Horticulture and daughter-in-law Prabha Mallikarjun is the Congress Member of Parliament from Davanagere.
Shivashankarappa, who has several business interests, including rice mills, sugar factories and several educational institutions, wields significant influence in the region, state and among the Lingayat community. His political dynasty does now, however, end with his immediate family. One of his granddaughters is married to the son of M.B. Patil, Karnataka’s Minister for Industries, and the other is married to the son of former Karnataka chief minister and senior BJP leader Jagadish Shettar.
After Shivashankarappa’s death, Mallikarjun instantly proposed his son (Samarth) as the bypoll candidate, fuelling dissent. Led by Housing Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan, the Muslim community demanded that a member of their community be the party candidate.
Muslims have around 70,000 votes in Davanagere South, making them a formidable force in the constituency. But the party high command chose to back Samarth, despite opposition, among others from Siddaramaiah himself who argued against concentration of power in a single household.
Disillusioned, a section of the Muslim community rebelled against the Congress, citing it as a ‘betrayal’ of their continued support. “Some senior Congress leaders had planned a major conspiracy to defeat Samarth. The minorities, however, have voted in favour of the party,” KPCC working president Saleem Ahmed told reporters on Friday.
Saadiq Pehelwan, a local Congress strongman contested as an Independent. But a delegation of Congress MLAs like Rizwan Arshad, Saleem Ahmed and others helped defuse the situation and convinced Pehelwan to withdraw. Soon after, Khan, Ahmed, Jabbar and a few others allegedly started to fund the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) candidate, Afsar Kudlipet, to split the Muslim vote.
“Bypolls are usually closely monitored. In general elections, a lot of such issues may be overlooked, ” the Congress leader cited above said. According to multiple people aware of the developments, the disgruntled Muslim leaders started to fund the SDPI candidate to split the minority votes which would benefit the BJP indirectly. Apparently Rs 15 crore was given for this cause and transactions of these were found in the AICC report as well as the state intelligence report on the issue.
On whether action will be taken against Khan, the Congress MLA cited above said that it was up to the party high command. “The party will not tolerate all this nonsense. They may set the time on when to take action. But the party will not tolerate indiscipline,” the MLA added.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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