KN Rajanna’s Removal from Karnataka Cabinet Amidst Voter List Controversy

KN Rajanna, the Cooperation Minister in Karnataka, was dismissed from his post after raising questions about the handling of voter list irregularities, leading to a public disagreement with the party’s stance on the matter. His resignation was initially submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and was subsequently accepted by Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot. The controversy arose when Rajanna questioned why the party did not address the irregularities in the Mahadevapura constituency voter list during the Congress government’s term, contrasting with Rahul Gandhi’s accusations of vote theft against the current government. Rajanna’s comments sparked a political debate, with Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar criticizing his statements. It is believed that the Congress high command then instructed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to remove Rajanna from the cabinet. Rahul Gandhi had previously alleged that the BJP-led central government was involved in vote theft, using the Mahadevapura constituency in Bengaluru Central as an example, where he claimed there were over 100,000 fraudulent voters listed. Rajanna countered by stating that the voter list revisions occurred during their own government’s tenure and questioned the party’s lack of action at the time. He also expressed concern that these issues occurred under their watch. KN Rajanna, a veteran politician and a close confidant of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, was the Minister of Cooperation in Karnataka. He was born on April 13, 1951, in Tumkur Taluk, Karnataka. He holds degrees in BSc and LLB and has been active in cooperative movements since 1972. He was first elected to the Karnataka Legislative Council in 1998 and later became an MLA from Madhugiri. He won elections in 2013 and 2023 but lost in 2008 and 2018. He has held positions such as director of the Cooperative Apex Bank Limited and Cooperative Central Bank, and was also the president of the town panchayat in Kyathasandra and a member of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee in Tumkur.