Mahadevappa remark unnecessary, says Priyank

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) and Information Technology and Bio-Technology (IT-BT) Priyank Kharge on Tuesday termed Cabinet colleague HC Mahadevappa’s comment on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah continuing as CM “unnecessary”.

Social Welfare Minister HC Mahadevappa at a public function in Mysuru on Sunday had said: “The talks had yielded the solution that Siddaramaiah would be chief minister. He will continue as chief minister.” Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s brother and the lone Lok Sabha Congress MP from Karnataka, DK Suresh had publicly disapproved of Mahadevappa’s comment.

In the past, Siddaramaiah loyalists such as Industries Minister MB Patil and Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Satish Jarkiholi had echoed Mahadevappa’s sentiments. Suresh had taken offence to Patil’s remark in public. It is rumoured that the party high command had secretly agreed to a power sharing agreement wherein Shivakumar would be CM for the second half of the five-year term.

Interestingly, Priyank, who had been one of the main faces that Shivakumar had been lobbying for inclusion in the Cabinet, pointed out that no one among the Council of ministers reserved the right to decide the fate of the CM’s post, which was the prerogative of the party’s central leadership. Notably, Priyank’s father Mallikarjun Kharge, a Karnataka native, is the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president and would be holding a meeting with state leaders in New Delhi on Wednesday.

“All those things are unnecessary and uncalled for. Everybody is concentrating on implementing the five guarantees. Nobody is talking about a change of guard. There is nothing of that sort. If at all, anything has to be discussed, the top leadership will discuss it in Delhi, not here,” Priyank said. “Congress president (Mallikarjun Kharge) is there.

Rahul Gandhi ji is there. KC Venugopal (AICC general secretary) is there. Randeep (Surjewala) ji is there. DK Shivakumar (Karnataka Congress chief) ji is there. Siddaramaiah ji is there. We will take a call. Neither do I have the mandate, nor does anybody else have it,” he added, referring to the party meeting.

Centre rice move political: Kharge jr

Kharge also laid into the Centre for blocking the sale of rice from Food Corporation of India (FCI) to states under Open Market Sale Scheme (OMMS Domestic) but continuing to sell it to private parties, branding the move “political”.

“Why are they selling it to private players at Rs3,100 per quintal? But they are not ready to give it to the State government, which is ready to procure it at Rs 3,600 per quintal. Simple question. Let them answer that,” Kharge said.

“The only overtone is political,” he added on the day he and his party colleagues staged state-wide protests against the decision by the Centre. The Anna Bhagya scheme promises 10 kgs free rice monthly to Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Antyodaya card holders. BPL card holders already get five kgs of free rice under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). The State government promised another five kgs from their end and had sought to buy rice from FCI to that effect.