K’taka minister quits over CM skipping prayers

BANGALORE: The 11-month-old HD Kumaraswamy-led JD(S)-BJP coalition regime suffered its first casualty with the chief minister recommending acceptance of the resignation of Wakf and Haj minister Zamir Ahmed on Tuesday.

Surprisingly, Ahmed publicly announced his decision to quit the ministry over the chief minister’s failure to attend the Id celebrations on Monday and followed it up by driving to Raj Bhavan in his personal car this morning to submit his resignation letter to governor TN Chaturvedi.

The chief minister, who was pre-occupied with official programmes in Chikkaballapur and other places on the city outskirts, recommended acceptance of the resignation letter soon after returning to the city late on Tuesday night. An official communication from the Raj Bhavan on the resignation was not received till the time of going to press.

For the record, the chief minister’s failure to participate in the Id celebrations of the Muslim community on Monday is cited as the reason for Ahmed’s resignation. However, party insiders claim that the minister sought to pre-empt the ignominy of being dropped from the ministry during the ensuing Cabinet expansion and emerge as a champion of the community. Former minister Merajuddin Patel is tipped to be Ahmed’s replacement in the next round of Cabinet expansion later this month.

Ahmed, a transport operator, was pitch-forked into political limelight when Gowda hand-picked him as the party candidate to contest the by-election to the Chamarajpet Assembly constituency in the city, which was necessitated by the resignation of former chief minister SM Krishna on becoming the Maharashtra governor.