The controversial statement by KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar on the alleged meeting of KPCC Campaign Committee chairman M.B. Patil and Higher Education Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan continued to take more twists with the former Congress MP and actor Ramya’s response.
While on Wednesday Ms. Ramya said she was being trolled at the behest of the “office” (obliquely referring to Mr. Shivakumar) for backing Mr. Patil, on Thursday she accused that stories were planted in the media that she had duped the party of ₹8 crore. Ms. Ramya had earlier defended the meeting between the Minister and Mr. Patil, followed by trolling.
The ongoing Twitter war among Congress leaders has further exposed rival camps within the party.
Ms. Ramya took to Twitter to appeal to K.C. Venugopal, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka. “Humble request to K.C. Venugopal to please clarify with the media about this whenever you are in Karnataka next. The least you can do for me Venugopalji so I do not have to live with this abuse and trolling for the rest of my life,” she said.
Replying to another tweet that said she was inducted by Mr. Shivakumar to the party in 2010, the former MP said, “If there is anyone who has given me opportunities and stood by me, it is Rahul Gandhi. Anyone else claiming to have given me opportunities has only backstabbed and tried to suppress me. Everything you see on TV is a farce to conceal their devious mind.”
‘We need both’
When reporters sought the response of Mr. Shivakumar here on Thursday to the ongoing drama, he said he was not aware of it. “Mr. Patil is a senior leader in the party and Ms. Ramya is a former parliamentarian. We need both. I do not know where there has been a miscommunication. I was responding to a question by the media on the meeting of two leaders. If somebody is hurt by this development, we will discuss in party forum and not publicly,” he said.
