Home Articles My elevation has nothing to do with CM Ibrahim issue: UT Khader
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A day after he was appointed deputy leader of the Congress legislature party in the Assembly, former minister UT Khader maintained that his elevation has nothing to do with senior party leader CM Ibrahim’s announcement of quitting the party. Ibrahim was miffed after the party overlooked him for the post of Leader of Opposition in the Council and instead picked B K Hariprasad.
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Khader also denied that the Congress sidelined its minority community leaders. “Congress governments headed by S M Krishna and Siddaramaiah had seven and five ministers from the Muslim community, respectively. So, where has discrimination taken place? You can’t expect everything at once. It is only the Congress which takes along everyone following the principles of the Constitution,” he said.
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He said soon after his appointment as deputy CLP leader, he spoke to Ibrahim and other party leaders like Tanveer Sait and Zameer Ahmed Khan and maintained that they extended their full cooperation to him. Khader, a four-time MLA, said he will work under the guidance of KPCC president D K Shivakumar and
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CLP leader Siddaramaiah and take on the BJP government in the state, both inside and outside the Assembly, over its “failures”.
Slams bus fare hike
Khader condemned the government’s move to hike bus fares in state transport buses and alleged that the government was buckling under pressure from private bus operators. “Private bus operators wanted KSRTC bus fares to go up in order to match theirs. The hike was effected quietly without making any announcement. The bus fare for a trip between Deralakate and Mangaluru (18 km) has gone up from Rs 13 to Rs 20. A common man can’t afford such a steep hike,” he said, adding that the party will protest against this.
He also hit out at Dakshina Kannada in-charge minister V Sunil Kumar’s statement on solving the deemed forest issue in the government alleging that the minister is trying to fool people with such assurances. “Why have they failed to resolve the issue so far?” he asked. Meanwhile, Khader also visited senior Congress leaders and religious leaders and sought their blessings.
