Muslim strongman Qamarul Islam one foot out of Congress?
Besides his removal, what has rattled Mr Islam most is the effort by Mr Kharge to deny him party ticket.
Kalaburagi: Has Qamarul Islam, former minister and prominent Muslim leader from the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, one foot out of the Congress party?
Although this question has been doing the rounds ever since he was dropped from the Siddaramaiah Cabinet in June 2016, it has assumed significance now in the wake of Mr Islam’s absence from the divisional level meeting of Congress leaders held here on July 11, which was attended by AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal and CM Siddaramaiah.
Although Mr Islam was in the city on the day the function was held, he skipped the meeting on “health grounds”. According to sources, the intention behind skipping the meeting was to send signals to the AICC General Secretary and the CM that he was annoyed with the kind of respect he was being accorded in the party now and would not mind taking the decisive step of severing ties.
This six-term MLA and one term MP, who began his political career with the Muslim League, getting elected the first time to the Assembly in 1978, has emerged as the unchallenged Muslim leader in Gulbarga city, if not in the district.
Although Mr Islam, who was the district-in-charge minister from 2013-16, had rarely stepped out of Gulbarga city when the district reeled continuously under severe drought and had topped the list of ‘inefficient Ministers’ in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet , he has tried to portray his removal from the Cabinet as an act of insult to the Muslim community in the entire North Karnataka.
And more than Mr Siddaramaiah, Mr Islam holds senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge responsible for his removal. Refusing to buy the argument of Mr Kharge that he had tried to dissuade the CM not to drop him, Mr Islam has taken up cudgels against Mr Kharge.
Besides his removal, what has rattled Mr Islam most is the effort by Mr Kharge to deny him party ticket.
Meanwhile Mr Islam is said to have received an invitation from JD(S) chief H.D. Deve Gowda to join his party and lead it in the coming election.