By : Jameel Aahmed Milansaar
When a ruling party sacks its own political secretary for sabotaging its candidate, it's not flexing discipline. It's exposing the rot beneath.
Karnataka's Congress government didn't boot MLC Naseer Ahmed out of newfound principle. They did it because they got caught, with internal paperwork too damning to bury. The curt order on April 13, stripping the MLC and long-time political secretary to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of his role, reveals more about the party's fractures than the man himself.
Congress had fielded Samarth Mallikarjun—a Lingayat heir from the powerful Shamanur dynasty—for the Davangere South bypoll on April 9. Muslim leaders inside the party, long pushing for one of their own on the ticket, felt stabbed in the back. Their anger was real. Legitimate, even. But what came next wasn't dissent. It was sabotage: well-funded, methodical, aimed straight at their own guy.
AICC's internal probe and state intelligence point to forces from Inside Congress funded the SDPI candidate, designed to splinter the minority vote and tank Congress. Naseer Ahmed, with KPCC Minority Cell chief Abdul Jabbar, allegedly ran the show. The play? Lose today to force a Muslim ticket promise for 2028. Pure transaction, loyalty be damned.
Ahmed dug in, ignoring AICC's Randeep Surjewala and his resignation deadline. The high command only forced the issue when defiance went public—not from moral fire, but cold calculation. Jabbar had quit days earlier, spinning it as protest over Housing Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan's "humiliation." Scrutinize that. Zameer—a Siddaramaiah loyalist—had rallied for a Muslim ticket, skipped most campaigning on flimsy excuses, then showed up late. He's now summoned to the CM's residence. Will he skate free? That decides if this is real accountability or just theater.
This mess lays bare a bigger machine. Sure, minorities deserve fair tickets—that's valid. But here, a faction weaponized it for an internal power grab. At root: Siddaramaiah's circle battling to block Deputy CM DK Shivakumar's shot at the top job via rotation. Loyalist MLAs—24 of them—stormed Delhi, pushing a cabinet reshuffle to scream "no change needed." Ahmed was Siddaramaiah's shadow operator on minority files. His exit? A gut punch at the worst time.
DK Shivakumar's already circling. His allies are boosting MLA Rizwan Arshad and MLC Saleem Ahmed as fresh Muslim voices, loyal to him. Davangere South turned proxy war for Karnataka's next CM.
Naseer Ahmed's dismissal isn't order restored. It's a confession: the party's contradictions grew too bloated, too costly to hide. Accountability under duress? That's damage control in discipline's disguise.









