Did remark on Nitish cost Moily his job?

Though the Congress veteran and candidate from Chikballapur constituency in Karnataka played down speculation about the reasons for his removal, the timing - a day after he said the "Congress won't make a hero of" Nitish Kumar, the leader that the party is wooing - can’t be overlooked. Aurangzeb Naqshbandi reports.

Was it the scathing comments against JD-U chief Nitish Kumar (58) that cost Congress media department chairman M Veerappa Moily (69) his top position in the party?

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Though the Congress veteran and candidate from Chikballapur constituency in Karnataka played down speculation about the reasons for his removal, the timing - a day after he said the "Congress won't make a hero of" Nitish Kumar, the leader that the party is wooing - can’t be overlooked.

The Congress has handed over the charge of the media department to Janardhan Dwivedi till "new arrangements are put in place" after the elections.

On March 31, Moily had temporarily handed over the charge to Dwivedi to enable him to campaign in Chikballapur. He resumed the charge on May 4. "When he came back, I told him to take the charge. Now today, I have been told to continue," said, Dwivedi, who is also a Congress general secretary. "It's an interim arrangement. Moily has not been removed from the post. I have been asked to take over the charge of the media department till new arrangements are put in place after the polls," he was quick to add.

The statement gave enough indication that Moily is unlikely to be retained on the post after the elections. Even the former Karnataka chief minister is unsure of this. "I don't know what they will do after the polls," he said in Bangalore.