Basavaraj Bommai under BJP high command's thumb: Congress

Mysuru: Newly-appointed Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has lost liberty to decide who should be in his cabinet, said Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) spokesperson V S Ugrappa. He (Bommai) is suffering in the clutches of the BJP party high command," he alleged.

Speaking to media persons here on Tuesday, he said that Bommai himself disclosed that he sent 2-3 lists to the high command in Delhi and is unaware of which one of them would get the approval. He said that the decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shaw was final in the BJP. The BJP always accused the Congress of practising 'high command' culture. "Now, what is it doing? he questioned.

He said, "it is not wrong to seek approval from the high command but the BJP has no belief in constitution and democratic system. The BJP high command is insulting 6.5 crore people of the State by not giving their chief minister a chance to form a cabinet his choice." Ugrappa alleged that the BJP legislators were after power despite devastating floods in the State and the Union government was meting out a stepmotherly treatment to Karnataka by not releasing flood relief compensation.