Daijiworld Media Network - Chikkaballapur (SP)

Chikkaballapur, Aug 7: Chairman of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and disqualified Chikkaballapur MLA from the Congress, Dr K Sudhakar, charged former speaker, K R Ramesh Kumar, of robbing him of the chance to head the said corporation at the first instance.

It may be recalled that although Sudhakar's name had been put before the then chief minster Kumaraswamy, to the post of the chairman of the above board along with some other boards and other corporations, his name had not been cleared. It was analyzed that enmity between these two leaders had caused denial of the seat to Sudhakar. Sudhakar was given the post much later after lot of lobbying and pressure from the Congress leadership.

'Addressing a press conference at Chikkaballapur on Tuesday August 6, Sudhakar said that H D Kumaraswamy had told him about Ramesh Kumar's hand in the denial of chairmanship to him. Ramesh Kumar represents Srinivaspura constituency.

"Kumarswamy told me that Ramesh Kumar expressed the apprehension that if I was given the said post, I would create problems for him in the assembly. He also confessed that he had made a mistake by denying me the chairmanship of the board at the insistence of Ramesh Kumar," he disclosed.

Sudhakar also complained that when he met Kumaraswamy before the preparation of the budget to discuss development projects in his constituency, the former chief minister had behaved rudely with him. "You have been appreciating Siddaramaiah in various forums. I know what he has done. We do not have enough funds to sanction grants," Kumaraswamy told me, he alleged.