MLC BK Hariprasad takes a dig at CM amid murmurs of fissures in unit

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Sept 10, 2023: Karnataka Congress Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) BK Hariprasad on Saturday launched a veiled attack at chief minister Siddaramaiah and claimed he was kept out of the state cabinet “unfairly”, in what is the latest fissure for the party in the southern state, where they swept to power just four months ago.

“Some people wearing a Hublot watch and wearing a dhoti cannot claim to be Samajwadi. Samajwada (socialism) means equality for all,” Hariprasad said during an event of backward-class groups in Bengaluru, alluding to Siddaramaiah. The chief minister declined to comment on the allegations.

Hariprasad also appeared to compare Siddaramaiah unfavourably to former CM Devaraj Urs, who is widely regarded as an effective social reformer.

“By sitting in Devaraj Urs’s car one cannot become Devaraj Urs. Work should happen towards implementing his thinking and his ideology,” he said.

Hariprasad was likely referring to an incident from August. On the former CM’s 108th birth anniversary, Siddaramaiah, after garlanding Urs’ statue on the Vidhana Soudha premises, had taken a short ride in his black Mercedes-Benz. He “thanked” Siddaramaiah for not appointing him as a minister.

“I thank Siddaramaiah for not making me a minister. If I had been made a minister, I would not have met you and strengthened you. Do not be under the illusion that I will be a minister or chief minister in this government. I will try to strengthen the smaller communities,” Hariprasad said.

Siddaramaiah said he doesn’t have to respond to the statement. “Did he take my name?” he asked when asked about Hariprasad’s ‘socialist’ comment. “I don’t have to comment on these statements,” he said to further questions.