BENGALURU: The Congress leadership on Friday backed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah after Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot granted sanction for his prosecution in the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (Muda) case, and alleged that the Centre had unleashed a systematic assault through a “puppet governor” to destabilise an elected government.
The Congress said it stood united, would pursue the matter in courts and not be “cowed”.
The party made the assertion after Siddaramaiah and Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister and PCC chief D.K. Shivakumar met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi at the AICC headquarters here.
After the meeting, Siddaramaih said they had explained the situation in Karnataka to the party top brass. “It has been challenged in court. We believe in the law of the land. The decision taken by the governor is unconstitutional and illegal. We will get justice at the hands of the courts,” he asserted.
Kharge and Gandhi had a detailed interaction with the chief minister and the Deputy Chief Minister as well as senior Karnataka ministers, Surjewala told reporters after the meeting.
“The current political situation in Karnataka was discussed in detail. The Chief Minister and the Pradesh Congress Committee president and Deputy Chief Minister briefed the Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on how a systematic and designed assault has been unleashed through the office of a puppet governor as part of a sinister conspiracy designed to destabilise an elected government,” Surjewala said.
“Frustrated by a decimating defeat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and the BJP leadership are now hiding behind the Governor to attack the Congress government in Karnataka. This is not an attempt to dislodge or destabilise the Congress government of Karnataka but in truth this is a sinister design to attack the five Congress guarantees by which we are transferring Rs 53,000 crore every year directly in the bank accounts of the people,” he said.
Surjewala alleged that the BJP had been attacking the Congress guarantees benefiting the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled tribes, backward classes and minorities for the past year.
The BJP and the Janata Dal (S) are scared of the Congress' guarantees and want them to be stopped, he claimed.
“This is not an attack on our Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister, this is an attack on the people of Karnataka by the Modi government, drunk on power and using a puppet governor to destabilise an elected government,” Surjewala said.
This is also an “assault on a backward class chief minister” who is the senior-most chief minister in the country, he said and added that it was “revenge-seeking” from the people of Karnataka.
The Congress government in Karnataka is committed to continuing with its guarantees, he said.
“We will face every assault by the Union government and their Governor. We will follow all our legal remedies, we have full faith in the majesty of the law and in the system of the judiciary. We will take this battle to the court of the people,” Surjewala said.
He asked why the Governor had not granted sanction for the prosecution of former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa for the past five to six years.
Surjewala also questioned why the Governor had not sanctioned the prosecution against H.D. Kumaraswamy and half-a-dozen other BJP and JD(S) leaders, asserting that “we will not be cowed down”.
“We stand united in this fight. We stand with our chief minister. We will not accept any assault just because our chief minister comes from a backward class background,” Surjewala said.
Shivakumar asserted that the Congress leadership was standing with them and everyone was firmly supporting Siddaramaiah.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar said a situation would arise for Governor Gehlot to withdraw his grant of sanction for prosecution. He asserted that the party stood behind Siddaramaiah.
