Home Minister G Parameshwara speaks to media persons in Mysuru, on Monday. KPCC spokesman H A Venkatesh is seen.
Credit: DH photo
Mysuru: Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara indirectly hinted at disciplinary action against his Cabinet colleague B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan.
Speaking to media persons, in Mysuru, on Monday, he was reacting to a question on Zameer Ahmed referring to Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy as ‘Kaala’ and Muslims buying the entire family of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, during a campaign in Channapatna, for the Assembly byelection.
Parameshwara said, KPCC president D K Shivakumar himself has stated that Zameer's statement is a burden to the party. “A few party leaders have said that Zameer's statement has a slight impact on the byelection. If the KPCC president reports the issue to the party's disciplinary committee, its chairman Rahim Khan can take action against Zameer Ahmed,” he said.
“Earlier, I was a member of the AICC disciplinary committee. We used to issue notice to leaders, regardless of their stature, if they made statements harmful to the party. If necessary, we even suspended them,” he recalled.
40 per cent commission
Regarding the Lokayukta giving a clean chit to the BJP in the 40% commission allegation, against the earlier Basavaraja Bommai government, Parameshwara said, “We are ready to re-investigate the allegations. We fought the issue, based on the letter written by Contractors Association president Kempanna. We need to see on what basis the Lokayukta claims that there is no evidence. We will read the Lokayukta report first. Then we will take a decision on it”.
Operation Kamala
In reply to a question on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s allegation that the BJP offered Rs 50 crore each to 50 MLAs to topple his government, Parameshwara said, as the Chief Minister mentioned, it might be true.
“The BJP might be still trying to buy our MLAs. The BJP is an expert in Operation Kamala. The exact amount is not known. If we get proper evidence, we will investigate,” he said.
Change in CM
In response to a question regarding the change of CM, Parameshwara said, the BJP is envious of Siddaramaiah. “Hence, the BJP leaders mention dates, when the CM would be changed. In Congress, we never discuss such matters. If they want to investigate the CM, let them. Let them use ED or CBI,” Parameshwara said.
Regarding Siddaramaiah's statement that people will not keep quite, if his leadership is changed, he asked, “Isn't that natural? If false accusations are made against him, what will people do? Especially, what will the people of Mysuru do?”