Senior Congress leader, K.H. Muniyappa on Wednesday named former Karnataka assembly speaker, K.R. Ramesh Kumar among other local leaders of the party as the reason behind the former’s loss from Kolar parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha elections.
Muniyappa told a Congress parliamentary elections fact finding committee that Kumar and other party leaders had colluded with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to engineer the defeat of the seven time member of parliament and former central minister for railways.
“They encouraged the BJP and its candidate," Muniyappa told Mint over the phone on Wednesday. Muniyappa said that he has written a letter to party chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, state president Dinesh Gundu Rao and Siddaramaiah to expel Kumar and others from the party with immediate effect.
“I have asked that these people should be expelled and purified from such elements or the party will not survive," he said.