Digvijaya hints at re-entry of George in Siddaramaiah cabinet

Hyderabad, Sep 20 (PTI) The Congress leadership believesthere was no "enough reason" for former Karnataka Minister K JGeorge to resign, senior party leader Digvijaya Singh saidtoday, hinting at his likely return into the Siddaramaiahcabinet. "As far as we are concerned, merely a complaint orstatement by a person who commits suicide is not enough reasonfor anyone to resign," the party General Secretary in chargeof Karnataka Affairs told PTI here. Singh was asked if the Congress leadership has approvedthe reinstatement of George in the wake of Karnataka CIDearlier this month giving a clean chit to him and two seniorpolice officers in connection with the alleged suicide ofDy SP M K Ganapathy. "There was no reason for him (George) to resign in thefirst place but on his personal thing he resigned. As faras the high command is concerned, there is nothing againstGeorge," the two-time Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said. Asked if the party highcommand has given green signal forthe re-entry of George, Singh said, "That is for the ChiefMinister to decide. It is the prerogative of the ChiefMinister. We do not interfere in these matters." Ganapathy was found hanging from a ceiling fan in a roomat a lodge in Madikeri on July 7, prior to which he had in aninterview to a local TV channel said the Minister and the twosenior police officers, A M Prasad and Pranab Mohanty, wouldbe responsible "if anything happens to me". George had on July 18 resigned after a court directedpolice to register an FIR against him and the two policeofficers in connection with the matter. On criticism in some quarters that Karanataka ChiefMinister Siddaramaiah did not handle the situation well onSeptember 12 when Bengaluru witnessed largescale violence overthe Cauvery water sharing row with Tamil Nadu, Singh admittedthe state government was "not very stringent" on that day. "The agitation is by farmers. No government, when it’s asensitive issue of water, can be seen to be aggressivelytaking action against genuine demands of farmers which thegovernment also feels the same way. So, the Karnatakagovernment was sort of not very stringent on the first day.So, some violence did happen. From second day onwards, it wascontrolled," he said. PTI RS DKGVS