Bengaluru: Former revenue minister V Srinivasa Prasad on Monday resigned from Congress party and as a Member of Legislative Assembly. Srinivasa Prasad submitted his resignation to Assembly Speaker K B Koliwad, but is yet to take a decision on joining any political party.
Speaking to media persons, Srinivasa Prasad said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had not intimated him while dropping him from the Cabinet. “The sudden decision of the Chief Minister was a shock for me. I was instrumental in bringing in various changes in the revenue department. I have appointed around 1800 surveyors in the revenue department. The chief minister did not find fault with me during the three years of my tenure as a revenue minister. On one fine day he dropped me from the Cabinet without informing me. He claimed the Cabinet was reshuffled to make the Cabinet strong but ended up as the weakest Cabinet,’’ Prasad said.
Prasad blamed the coterie of six members – Digvijay Singh, Mallikarjun Kharge, Siddaramaiah, Dr G Parameshwara, K J George and D K Shivakumar, for the current situation of Congress in Karnataka. “These six members are responsible for the negligence of loyal workers in Congress. They play key role in not only deciding on party affairs, but also garnering funds for the Congress,’’ Prasad said.
Recalling how Siddaramaiah was benefited from him, the former minister said that Siddaramaiah and other leaders pleaded him to launch Ahinda programme from Basavakalyan. “How can Siddaramaiah forget my help when he was thrown out of Janata Dal? How can he forget my contribution for his success in the by-election? He backstabbed me for helping him,’’ he said.
Coming down heavily on Mallikarjun Kharge and Dr G Parameshwar for keeping quiet on the state of current affairs in Congress, he said Mallikarjun Kharge became quite when Siddaramaiah included his son Priyanka Kharge into the Cabinet, and Dr G Parameshwar was not a mass leader and he is content with being a Cabinet minister. “Dr Parameshwar, have you forgotten about your allegation against Siddaramaiah? You blamed him for your defeat in the assembly election. Now, you are quite and happy after becoming MLC and Cabinet minister,’’ he said.
