Karnataka   

‘BJP will never say no to a Dalit becoming the Chief Minister’

Subash Bharani

MYSORE: The former Additional Director General of Police, Subhash Bharani, has admitted that conclaves of Dalit officials of the State were held to mobilise support for the senior Congress leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge as the next Chief Minister of the State.

Responding to a query, Mr. Bharani, who joined the BJP after an unsuccessful attempt to secure the Congress ticket, defended the meetings of Dalit officials of the State comprising several senior IPS and IAS officers to lobby for Mr. Kharge’s candidature for the Chief Minister’s post.

“What is wrong if Dalit officials favour a person belonging to their community for the Chief Minister’s post? Are IPS officials and Government officers belonging to Dalit community not entitled to hold political views? As far as I know, there is no clause in the Service Rules that prohibits government servants from [doing] this”, he said.

However, he said the meetings in which he had participated were held before he joined the BJP.

Mr. Bharani contended that it would be an achievement if Dalits, who have been oppressed for centuries, should occupy the high post of a Chief Minister of the State. “There is nothing wrong if Dalits hold such meetings. It may not be appropriate for other communities to hold such meetings,” he added.

Mr. Bharani, who sought voluntary retirement from the Police Department on April 15, has been fielded by the BJP as its candidate from T. Narsipur (reserved) Assembly seat in Mysore.

Mr. Bharani did not rule out the BJP projecting him, also a Dalit, as the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate “one day”. “It is not an impossible dream,” he said and added that the BJP will never say no to a Dalit becoming the Chief Minister.

However, he said that the former Chief Minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, was now the BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate. “The BJP will secure a majority in the elections and Mr. Yeddyurappa will become the next Chief Minister,” Mr. Bharani said.

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