"I would rather have him fired than have him resign," said an irate Siddaramaiah's arguments regarding K.N. Rajanna were disregarded by Rahul Gandhi.

Former Karnataka minister K. N. Rajanna’s comments regarding the party’s “vote theft” agitation reportedly enraged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi so much that he told Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to fire him from the Cabinet rather than ask him to quit. After Rajanna tried to refute Rahul Gandhi’s claims of voter list tampering in Mahdevpura, Karnataka, he was fired from the Siddharamaiah cabinet on Monday. According to Rajanna, the alleged fiddling occurred during the Congress’s tenure in office, and the issue ought to have been brought to light then rather than now.

According to a report on Kannada news website Prajavani, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal called Chief Minister Siddaramaiah at around 11 a.m. on Monday to let him know that Rahul Gandhi and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wanted Rajanna resginated. According to Siddaramaiah, “It’s done”

The Chief Minister then got in touch with Rahul Gandhi to let him know that, after the session was over, he would ask Rajanna to quit. Rahul, however, was not persuaded. I would prefer that he be removed from the Cabinet rather than asked to quit. How can a minister have the authority to say such things? Rahul informed Siddaramaiah, “He has been saying this since the day the government took office. Additionally, he informed the CM that speaking with Rajanna about the choice was unnecessary.

The CM called Home Minister G Parameshwara and PWD Minister Satish Jarkiholi right away. The decision to remove K N Rajanna from the Cabinet was then communicated to the Governor in a letter.

The decision was made by the High Command without even consulting Siddaramaiah because Rahul Gandhi felt embarrassed by Rajanna’s reaction. In front of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul was also questioned by a few MPs from the Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress. “Is it correct that the Karnataka minister for your party disregarded our fight? Rahul Gandhi was asked by the MPs, “What message does this send to the people of the country?”