Hariprasad’s statement not meant for Siddaramaiah, says Minister Nagendra
The Hindu
Minister Nagendra clarifies Hariprasad's statement, saying it was in reference to making Bhupesh Baghel CM of Chhattisgarh. He denies allegations of Hariprasad being upset over not getting a berth in Siddaramaiah's Cabinet.
Responding to Congress leader and member of Legislative Council B.K. Hariprasad’s statement, Minister for Youth Empowerment, Sports, and Tribal Welfare B. Nagendra said that he was not targeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah when he said that he knew how to make a CM or to force a CM to step down.
“Mr. Hariprasad is a senior Congressman who served the party in various capacities. He had worked as party in charge for Jharkhand and in this background, he must have made this statement keeping his role in making Bhupesh Baghel the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. I don’t think his statement has anything to do with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who is the post-popular and pro-Backward Classes leader after former Chief Minister late Devaraj Urs,” he said at a media conference in Ballari on Saturday.
Dismissing the allegations that Mr. Hariprasad was upset as he was denied a berth in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet, Mr. Nagendra claimed that the distribution of portfolios was made based on a consensus among party leaders and there was no dissent in the party.
“Mr. Hariprasad is a senior and competent leader who can handle any portfolio. But the selection of Ministers was taken collectively by all the 155 MLAs of the party with the consent of the party’s national leaders. There are only 34 berths and Mr. Hariprasad missed an opportunity,” he said.
Terming the Congress’ five guarantees game-changers in the improvement of the State’s economy and the standard of living, Mr. Nagendra said that the Gruha Lakshmi, Gruha Jyothi, Yuva Nidhi, Shakti and Anna Bhagya schemes would give relief to vast sections of poor people who were hit hard by the anti-poor policies of the BJP government at the Centre and the resultant skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.
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