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Congress leader KN Rajanna was asked to resign by Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah but refused to do so and said he was “dropped” by the party high command due to a “misunderstanding”
Karnataka cooperation minister KN Rajanna speaks during the monsoon session of the state assembly, in Bengaluru on August 11. (Image: PTI)
Hours after he was removed as the cooperation minister from the Karnataka cabinet on Monday, Congress leader KN Rajanna has alleged that there is a conspiracy against him and he will provide answers at the right time.
Rajanna was initially asked to resign by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah but refused to do so. He said he was “dropped” by the Congress high command but this seems to be a “misunderstanding” with senior leader Rahul Gandhi, on whose direct order he was apparently sacked from his position in the council of ministers.
“There is a conspiracy against me. I will go to Delhi and clarify what I have said,” Rajanna told reporters. “There is a big conspiracy, a plot and, when the time comes, I will provide the answers.”
“You have information about the draft that came from the Governor’s office. It has come as ‘dropped’. This is the high command’s decision, the party’s decision,” he said. “I believe Rahul Gandhi has a misunderstanding. I will try to remove that misunderstanding. I will go to Delhi and correct this misunderstanding.”
The BJP, meanwhile, called out the Congress for sacking Rajanna over the “vote theft” issue and said there is no place for truth in the grand old party. It said the development, in fact, showed a divide within the ruling Congress in the state.
Rajanna is the second minister to be out of Siddaramaiah’s cabinet, after the Congress came to power in 2023. Last year, it was Bellary MLA B Nagendra, who had to resign following allegations against him in connection with embezzlement at the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki ST Development Corporation.
WHAT DID RAJANNA SAY ON ‘VOTE THEFT’?
Rajanna, who is a Siddaramaiah loyalist, drew the ire of the Congress high command when he allegedly blamed his own government for the “vote theft” in Mahadevapura assembly segment during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi recently held a press conference in New Delhi and later a public meeting in Bengaluru where he claimed that the BJP government at the Centre came to power due to “vote theft”. He cited the presence of over a lakh bogus voters in Mahadevapura under Bangalore Central parliamentary constituency.
Rajanna’s views on the issue proved costly for him. “When were the voter lists prepared? They were prepared under our (Congress) government. Were we all sleeping? It is true that there were irregularities. But we should be ashamed that those irregularities happened right in front of our eyes and we didn’t stop them. We must be cautious going forward,” he said.
Questioning his own party men on what they were doing when objections were invited after draft electoral rolls were prepared, he asked, “Shouldn’t we have checked the draft electoral rolls after they were published? We should have filed objections. Having been quiet then, we are raising this now.”
HOW DID THE BJP RESPOND?
The opposition BJP, meanwhile, seemed to rally on Rajanna’s side and called his termination from Karnataka’s council of ministers as a “setback” for Siddaramaiah and “warning bells for the days ahead”.
State BJP leaders said Rajanna, who is a senior and experienced face from the scheduled tribes (ST) community, has been sacked for speaking the truth on the “vote theft” issue. Former CM Basavaraj Bommai attacked the Congress for suppressing dissent and said there were those in the party who still behaved as “slaves”.
ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಸತ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಸ್ಥಳವಿಲ್ಲ. ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ನಲ್ಲಿ ಸತ್ಯ ಹೇಳುವವರಿಗೂ ಸ್ಥಳವಿಲ್ಲ. ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ನ ಮತಕ್ಕೆ ಓಲೈಕೆ ರಾಜಕಾರಣದ ಜೊತೆಗೆ ಆಂತರಿಕವಾಗಿ ಸಂವಿಧಾನದ ವಿರೋಧ ನಡೆದರೂ ಹೈಕಮಾಂಡ್ ವಿರುದ್ದ ಧ್ವನಿ ಎತ್ತುವ ಸ್ವತಂತ್ರ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಗುಲಾಮರಂತೆ ನಡೆಸಿಕೊಳ್ಳುವ ಮನಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಮೂರನೇ ತಲೆಮಾರಿನ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ನಾಯಕರಿಗೆ ಇನ್ನೂ ಹೋಗಿಲ್ಲ.… pic.twitter.com/oSU9RDm0Qb— Basavaraj S Bommai (@BSBommai) August 11, 2025
“There is no place for truth in Congress. There is no place for those who speak the truth in Congress. Even though vote-bank politics and internal opposition to the Constitution occur in Congress, there is no freedom to raise a voice against the high command. The mindset of behaving like slaves has not yet left the third generation of Congress leaders,” Bommai wrote in a post on X in Kannada. “K.N. Rajanna is a senior, experienced politician. He worked efficiently in his department. Not giving a senior leader from the ST community like him the opportunity to resign is an insult to his experience, efficiency, and the ST community. In a way, this is a setback for CM Siddaramaiah and a warning bell for the days ahead.”
Union minister Pralhad Joshi, meanwhile, referred to the dark past of the Congress and took a swipe saying “emergency is the weapon” of the party, which does not tolerate “serious discussions”.
ಅಂದು-ಇಂದು-ಎಂದೆಂದೂ ತುರ್ತುಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಪಕ್ಷದ ಆಯುಧಬಾಲಿಶತನದ ಮಾತುಗಳಿಗೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಹೈಕಮಾಂಡ್ ಅಸ್ತು ಎನ್ನುತ್ತದೆ ಹೊರೆತು ಗಂಭೀರವಾಗಿ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದರೆ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಎಂದೆಂದಿಗೂ ಸಹಿಸುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಂದು ದೇಶದಲ್ಲಿ ತುರ್ತುಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಜಾರಿ ತಂದು ತಮ್ಮ ರಾಜಕೀಯ ಆಟ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶಿಸಿದರು. ಇಂದು ಸಚಿವ ಕೆಎನ್ ರಾಜಣ್ಣ ರಾಹುಲ್… pic.twitter.com/g7xpQ8qBkb— Pralhad Joshi (@JoshiPralhad) August 11, 2025
“Then, now, and forever, emergency is the weapon of the Congress party,” Joshi said in a post on X. “The Congress high command only agrees to childish talks, but never tolerates serious discussions. Back then, they imposed an emergency in the country to showcase their political games. Today, Minister K.N. Rajanna spoke against the election voter list, accusing Rahul Gandhi, and has been sacked for it. A deplorable situation and an emergency have been created where one must pay a price for speaking against Rahul Gandhi’s struggle. This is the true culture of the Congress party.” (sic)
‘BETRAYAL TO ST COMMUNITY’
Terming Rajanna’s removal as a “betrayal” to the ST community, to which the leader belongs, BJP leader R Ashoka said the “revolutionary political developments” in the state that he predicted by October, had begun in August itself, and the “government will collapse”.
“He (Rajanna) told the truth, that’s why Rahul Gandhi (Congress leader) issued a notice to Rajanna, he is suspended now… Siddaramaiah is losing his wickets everyday. I said there will be a kranti (revolution) in October, it has started in August itself,” Ashoka, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said.
State BJP President BY Vijayendra said in the Congress, the truth is “treated as a threat”, especially when it comes from a leader of a marginalised community, whose voice they have long “tried to silence”.
“This is the true face of Congress anti-Dalit, anti-ST, anti-democratic and anti-truth. It also exposes the hollowness of Siddaramaiah’s claims of championing the AHINDA cause. When leaders from these communities are targeted, he does not defend them. Instead, he bows to the diktats of the Delhi High Command to safeguard his own position as Chief Minister,” Vijayendra said.
AHINDA is Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes, and Dalits.
(With agency inputs)
Oindrila Mukherjee is a senior sub-editor who works for the rewrite and breaking news desks. Her nine years of experience in print and digital journalism range from editing and reporting to writing impactful st…Read More
Oindrila Mukherjee is a senior sub-editor who works for the rewrite and breaking news desks. Her nine years of experience in print and digital journalism range from editing and reporting to writing impactful st… Read More
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