Want to ensure justice to Dalits, Muniyappa on MLC nominations

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa on Saturday confirmed that he along with three Cabinet colleagues had written a letter to All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge opposing the nomination of former Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer Sudham Das to the Council, adding that the purpose was to ensure justice to Dalit party workers.

Muniyappa had co-signed the letter with Home Minister G Parameshwara, Social Welfare Minister HC Mahadevappa and Excise Minister RB Thimmapur, expressing that they felt “terribly let down” because they were not consulted over the nominations.

It is to be noted that Das is also a Dalit and the son of former Sathanur MLA H Puttadasa. The four ministers and Kharge himself are all Dalits as well.

“Yes. We did write the letter to the high command. There are many Dalit leaders who have tioiled for the party for the last 30 years and our intention was to get them justice,” Muniyappa told mediapersons.

In the letter, the Cabinet ministers had accused Das of quitting ED over “strange reasons”, adding that his contribution to the party was “almost nil” as far as the May Assembly elections were concerned.

The Dalit leaders also expressed dismay over not being consulted over the MLC nominations in the first place.

The other two nominees, who were also approved on Saturday, are loyalists of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah MR Seetharam, who had served as minister for planning, statistics and science and technology during the CM’s first term and actor-turned-politician Umashree, who was the Minister for Women and Child Development from 2013 to 2018.

Das is Shivakumar’s choice

Interestingly, Das had been the choice of Deputy CM DK Shivakumar who brought the former ED officer to the party a mere five months ago with the promise of an MLC nomination.

In April, Das had even been made cochairman of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) out of turn partnering chairman MB Patil. The KPCC president however didn’t get his way on his second nominee Mansoor Khan, the son of former Union Minister K Rahman Khan.

Mansoor was replaced by Umashree, which Muslim leaders of Congress saw as a setback since they were promised an MLC nomination for the community.

Moreover, the party cadre isn’t happy with the fact that newcomers and people who have enjoyed power in the past were favoured over youngsters.