Zameer statement against party discipline: Shivakumar

Maqsood Maniyar|NT
Bengaluru

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president DK Shivakumar on Tuesday justified the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC’s) censure of the party’s MLA from Chamarajpet Zameer Ahmed Khan. He made the comments on the sidelines of the Congress’ silent protest at Congress Bhavan against Enforcement Directorate’s (ED’s) second summons issued to Sonia Gandhi, which she responded to, on Tuesday.

Shivakumar said Zameer’s statement was against party discipline. “Discipline is a part of any political party. So the party is looking at discipline in every Congressman of this country,” Shivakumar said. The AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala had fired off a letter to Khan on Monday, saying that his comments were in “poor taste,” asking him “to be careful in the future in making public remarks and steadfastly adhere to the discipline and ideology of the Indian National Congress.”

Shivakumar also denied that there was a rift within the party and sought to downplay him and Leader Of the Opposition in the Assembly, Siddaramaiah jockeying for the chief minister’s post. “There is one group, that is the Congress group,” he said in a chat with News Trail.

The controversy erupted last Thursday when the KPCC president reacted to Zameer’s statement that Vokkaligas alone wouldn’t be able to make one CM. The Chamarajpet MLA had added that on his travels, he had gauged that people wanted to see Siddaramaiah as CM again. An annoyed Shivakumar had retorted that “I won’t answer any Zameer Gimeer.”

On Saturday, he again responded to a media query about the row by implying that Zameer was not on his level and that people should just “shut up and work to bring the party back to power.”

Have to send message to ED, Centre:

DKS Shivakumar said that he didn’t have any hope of the ED and the Centre backing off from pursuing cases against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, but it was necessary to protest the summons. “We have to send a message. It’s not just now. In the past, we had done it when Rahul Gandhi was summoned and Sonia Gandhi was summoned on the first day. The nation never keeps quiet. The Congress party will also not stay quiet. We have to let them know,” he said adding, “They’re (Centre) fully misusing agencies. It has become a part of the political system.”

The KPCC president expressed confidence that the current State government would be voted out come May 2023. “We are confident that the people of Karnataka will throw the BJP out of power. They are frustrated. Every day, their pockets are being picked. There is no governance here. No one wants to come to Karnataka and invest further. Polarisation is at its peak. It is a very bad state of affairs in Karnataka,” he said.

“Their (State government’s) failure to tackle corruption and unemployment on all fronts has made people’s lives miserable. There is no other option in the country (apart from Congress),” he added.