The removal of two political secretaries and three bureaucrats from the Karnataka CMO in the last 10 months has sparked speculation over whether Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is losing his grip over his office in Vidhana Soudha, Bengaluru.
Among the latest to go was Siddaramaiah’s political secretary, Naseer Ahmed, who is considered one of his closest aides in the inner circle.
The charge? He was involved in anti-party activities during the recently concluded Davangere South by-election.
The decision comes after intelligence inputs and reports submitted to the All India Congress Committee indicated Naseer Ahmed’s alleged involvement in activities that went against party interests in the bypoll.
The move signals the Congress high command’s tough stance against internal dissent and anti-party conduct in the wake of the Davangere by-election fallout.
Speaking of the development, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar told India Today, “We have already received some reports and information about it. Discipline in the party is very important because we have been given responsibilities. I am waiting for another report to understand exactly what has happened.”
However, Naseer’s head was not the only one to roll from Siddaramaiah’s close circle in the past year.
In June last year, another political secretary, Govindaraju, was sacked after the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede case.
In the same case, Intelligence Chief Hemanth Nimbalkar, who reports to the Chief Minister, was also transferred along with the city Police Commissioner. In June last year, senior IAS officer Ateeq resigned, citing personal reasons, triggering speculation.
Just a few months ago, the Chief Minister’s son and Minister KJ George locked horns over transfers in KPCL, leading to George threatening to resign.
WHAT WENT WRONG FOR NASEER AHMED IN BYPOLLS
A government notification dated April 13 announced that Naseer Ahmed has been relieved of his duties as political secretary to the chief minister with immediate effect.
Three days earlier, Congress MLC Abdul Jabbar resigned as president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee Minority Cell.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah summoned Housing, Minority Welfare and Waqf Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan to his official residence.
Khan told reporters that the chief minister had asked him to come to his residence within half an hour and that he was on his way.
Several Muslim leaders faced allegations of opposing Samarth Shamanur’s candidacy. The announcement of Samarth’s name led to unrest within the ruling Congress party.
The party fielded Shamanur for the by-election, following the death of his grandfather, the late 94-year-old MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa.
Samarth is the son of Karnataka’s Mines and Geology Minister S S Mallikarjun.
A rebel Congress candidate, Sadiq Pailwan, initially filed nomination papers from Davangere South but withdrew after intervention by Siddaramaiah.
Despite this, dissent continued as many Muslim leaders chose not to campaign.
Davangere South has a significant Muslim population. Leaders from the community had sought a candidate from among themselves, but the Congress chose Samarth Shamanur instead.
Khan acknowledged that Muslim leaders had openly requested a ticket for a candidate from their community.
He recalled a meeting on March 20 convened by Congress general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar at the Congress office, attended by more than 200 leaders from Davangere, including many minority representatives.
“I stated openly in the meeting: Please consider a Muslim candidate for Davangere. I made this request publicly, not in private,” Khan said, reported news agency PTI.
The minister added that he had pledged to resign from his ministerial post if the candidate did not succeed.
– Ends
Inputs from PTI
