Protests over Ministry rejig not under my control: Ramalinga Reddy

Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress MLA Ramalinga Reddy, a miffed ministerial aspirant, on Tuesday, December 25 sought to distance himself from the protests by his supporters seeking his induction in the H D Kumaraswamy cabinet, saying they were not under his control.

“The protesters are not in our control. Our supporters sometimes don’t listen to me also,” he told reporters after meeting former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at his residence here.

Reddy, however, said he had warned his supporters and dismissed reports about BJP leaders being in touch with him.

Supporters of Reddy, Home minister in the previous Siddaramaiah government, staged protests in the past couple of days after he was denied a ministerial berth in the much-awaited expansion of the six-month-old Congress-JD(S) coalition government on December 22.

Besides Reddy, several other senior Congress MLAs are upset over their exclusion in the Cabinet expansion and have come out openly to give vent to their anger.

Replying to a question, Reddy said he had never asked for a cabinet berth, but brought to the notice of the leaders the “sense of discrimination” among his supporters. A few of his supporters, who also are corporators of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, have threatened to quit the Congress if Reddy was not made a minister.

“Nobody will resign. I told them not to go to the press also. Because of enthusiasm, they went to the press. Today (Tuesday) Morning also, I warned our people,” he said.

Amidst reports that some BJP leaders were in touch with him, Reddy said, “Nobody from the BJP has been in touch with me, except in the morning, Yelahanka MLA Viswanath visited my house to invite me for his son’s wedding, that’s all.”

Replying to another query, Reddy said he was not joining the BJP and added he would like to see the next prime minister from the Congress.

“No no, why I should be joining BJP? I am a strong supporter of Congress. My ambition is to see the next prime minister from our party hoisting the flag on August 15,” he said.