My only sin was good performance, says Qamar-ul-Islam; decides to meet Sonia

Kalaburagi, Jun 20: The former Minister Qamarul Islam has charged senior leaders of the State unit of the Congress with conspiring to edge him out of the Cabinet and demanded that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah explain the reason for dropping him.

“My only sin was to give a good performance…implement all the promises made to the minorities in the party manifesto during the 2013 elections; spending more than 98 per cent of the funds allocated to minority development; introducing at least 10 new programmes for the welfare of the minorities; and creating a permanent bondage between the minorities and the party… may be this is the reason for my unceremonious exit from the Ministry,” he told presspersons here on Sunday. “My other sin was to extend honorarium to Pesh Imams and Mouzans…for this I have been made a victim now.”

Mr. Islam said that there was a conspiracy by a section of the party leadership to alienate the Muslim community in north Karnataka from the party by dropping him from the Ministry. “Muslims had stood like a rock behind the party in all these elections and the repercussions of the present political development could be felt in the next Assembly elections. My contribution to the party in elections and my performance as a Minister have been belittled now,” he said.

Clarifying that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi had not played any role in his exit from the Ministry, Mr. Islam said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha M. Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Digvijaya Singh, AICC secretary Oscar Fernandes and Home Minister G. Parameshwara should provide the reasons for dropping him from the Cabinet.

When told about the reports of attempts made by Mr. Kharge till the last minute to retain both Mr. Islam and Baburao Chinchansur, he said, “Mr. Kharge's son Priyank Kharge has been inducted into the Cabinet and it is for you to draw the inference about the truth of these attempts.”

Asked if he would continue in the Congress, Mr. Islam said that he would take the next course of action after his meeting Ms. Sonia Gandhi and Mr. Rahul Gandhi and holding discussions with his followers.