A delegation of state Congress leaders is meeting Governor T N Chaturvedi on Thursday to urge him to sack primary and secondary education minister Basavaraj Horatti for "misusing his official powers" and help the election commission to hold free and fair poll in the Chamundeswari constituency. | |
| The decision to meet the governor was announced by KPCC general secretary and MLC Prakash K Rathod after release a three-minute CD allegedly showing Horatti 'influencing the teachers drafted for election duty to rig polling in favour of his party candidate' at a meeting last evening. |
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| Narrating the incident at a press conference here on Tuesday, Prakash said the delegation would also hand over a copy of the CD to the governor to substantiate their charges against the cabinet minister. |
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| The KPCC is also lodging a complaint with the central election commission, said former Congress MP P Kodandaramaiah. Party MLA B R Patil demanded an inquiry into the minister's 'violation' of the code of conduct by holding a closed-door meeting with teachers. |
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| Kodandaramaiah, who is also a former senior police officer, said there was circumstantial evidence against the minister. |
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| On getting wind of the meeting at 7 pm on Monday, a group of Congress workers, led by Rathod, rushed to the school and locked the gate while the meeting was on and informed the police and EC observer Raymond Peter. Meanwhile, JD (S) workers also rushed to the spot. |
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| The CD shows the party workers forcibly entering the school premises, while an embarrassed Horatti coming out wiping his face. It also shows some women coming out of the premises. |
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| Patil accused chief minister H D Kumaraswamy if violating Article 354 of the constitution by disowning responsibility in discharging his duties to ensure free and fair elections. |
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| "Similarly, the chief minister and his father and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda committed offence under IPC Section 186 by obstructing EC observers from discharging their official duties." |
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| While the chief minister asked them whether they came there to watch donkeys, Deve Gowda called them names. |
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| AICC general secretary and MP B K Hariprasad said that Janata Dal leaders were importing "Bihar and UP culture" into Karnataka. |
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| Former minister Mallikarjun Kharge said, "when the chief minister, who heads a government, expresses helplessness to maintain law and order, he has no right to continue in his office." |
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| Meanwhile, the Congress got a boost when former Union minister and senior Dalit leader V Sreenivasa Prasad announced that he would campaign for its candidate and former deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah. |
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