Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 30: The statement made by PWD minister, H D Revanna, that it was not right for the Congress party to take away home portfolio from deputy chief minister, Dr G Parameshwar, who was ably managing the department, has evoked angry responses from Congress leaders. Revanna had also said that Congressmen were thwarting Dalit leader, Parameshwar's progress and because of this, home department was taken away from him. Revanna also had indicated that veteran Congress leader, Mallikarjun Kharge, is unhappy over this development.

Many Congress leaders have expressed displeasure at Revanna's statement. Minister, D K Shivakumar, expressed the view that Revanna was not right in making this statement. He opined that there is no need to take statements about Congress party following principles of inequality seriously.

H D Revanna

Another senior leader and minister, R V Deshpande, retorted by pointing out that Congress has been providing equal opportunities to all the classes of the society including the Dalits. He challenged Revanna to provide details on how many Dalits have been made ministers by his party. "Our party reposes faith in equality. The statement of the PWD minister is wrong. There is no need to attach any importance to what he said," he added.

After this development, there were rumours that chief minister, Kumaraswamy, took away Parameshwar's home department at the advice of H D Revanna. But Revanna hit back by claiming that these rumours were being floated by Congressmen. "I have not got even a peon transferred through Parameshswar. You can ask Parameshwar or home department secretary about the genuineness of my claim," he stated.