Cong veteran Hariprasad a casualty in Siddaramaiah-DKS cold war

Karnataka Congress President D.K. Shivakumar with party leader B.K. Hariprasad during celebrations after the party's win in Karnataka Assembly elections. Credit: PTI Photo

Senior leader B K Hariprasad became a casualty of tug-of-war between Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar, as he lost the race for a ministership in Karnataka after the chief minister vehemently opposed the inclusion of the backward class leader into his ministry.

A Gandhi family loyalist and old warhorse, Hariprasad is said to have lost the race as Siddaramaiah considered him as a leader who could help Shivakumar camp in the
ministry.

Sources close to Hariprasad said the 68-year-old leader was visibly upset and expressed his willingness “to work as an ordinary party worker and demit his Legislative Council seat.”

Deputy Chief Minister Shivakumar, who pushed Hariprasad’s case, argued that his inclusion would give representation to the Legislative Council as well as to the Ediga community, a backward caste.

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He also said Hariprasad is one of the senior most leaders from the state who has risen up the ranks and had held assignments at the national level. He has in the past taken up some difficult assignments in states like Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. It was Hariprasad who as general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh helped Congress tame Ajit Jogi and develop alternative leadership.

Despite being in active politics for four decades, Hariprasad has never held a ministerial position.

Hariprasad’s camp believes that he was not rewarded despite taking on the BJP alone in the Council besides campaigning for the party across the state. His supporters recalled that Hariprasad had made several sacrifices for the party, including fighting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Bangalore South against Tejasvi Surya, fully knowing that it was a BJP bastion.

Sources said the chief minister wanted Boseraju, who is presently not a lawmaker, to be accommodated and brought to the Council. Siddaramaiah said the party can bring only one MLC to the Cabinet and by inducting Boseraju, the party would be making good of the promise it made to him while denying him nomination to contest Assembly polls.

Siddaramaiah also dismissed the idea of nominating Hariprasad as an Ediga representative and instead batted for the inclusion of Madhu Bangarappa.