Siddaramaiah birthday bash: Rahul calls for party unit ahead of polls

Amid signs of rumbling within, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday night urged the party’s Karnataka unit leaders to work unitedly for the 2023 Assembly polls and not speak out publicly on leadership and internal matters.

The former Congress president attended the Karnataka unit’s political affairs committee meeting, where discussions were held on organisational matters and preparations for the upcoming assembly polls.

Rahul will also take part in former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s 75th birthday bash in the district headquarters of Davanagere on Wednesday. Siddaramaiah’s supporters have planned a grand celebration on his birthday, an apparent show of strength by his camp.

Federal Premium: 75th birthday bash for Siddaramaiah leaves Karnataka Congress divided

Rahul’s call for unity comes amid a game of political one-upmanship between two leaders legislature party leader Siddaramaiah and state president DK Shivakumar (DKS) over the chief minister’s post in the event of the party coming to power in the state.

“The committee discussed party organisation and policy matters. The meeting also discussed preparations for the 2023 Assembly polls…..PAC will meet frequently and take collective decisions in the interest of the party. Rahul Gandhi appealed to leaders of the party to go aggressively and unitedly against the misrule of the BJP in Karnataka and at the Centre,” AICC general secretary KC Venugopal said.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, he said Rahul urged party leaders to work to instal a people-centric Congress government in Karnataka. “The entire leadership of Karnataka will join hands together and win Karnataka in the 2023 polls…..unknowingly or knowingly some statements are made here and there before the media. Dont fall for that trap, party leaders should not speak in different voices inside or outside,” he added.

Party matters 

Stating that it has been unanimously decided not to speak about internal matters in public, Venugopal said: “There is no leadership issue at all, individual opinion is also not acceptable. The party’s new MLAs and the high command will decide on the leader after winning.”

Several internal issues have been discussed at the meeting, he said. “We are well-prepared to finalise the candidates, announce their names and win the elections.”

The political affairs committee of the Congress met on Tuesday for the first time after its constitution on July 9.

Also read: Congress stalwarts Siddaramaiah, Parameshwar patch up to take on common rival

Besides Rahul, Venugopal, Siddaramaiah and DKS, the party’s campaign committee chief M B Patil, Leader of Opposition in the legislative council BK Hariprasad, and senior leaders like HK Patil, Dinesh Gundu Rao, M Veerappa Moily and G Parameshwara attended the meeting.

Rahul’s two-day visit to the state assumes significance as the Congress in Karnataka seems to be in a conundrum, with many within the party fearing it would implode ahead of the assembly polls. There is also a palpable worry within the party about a virtual division getting created between the camps of the two key leaders, hurting its prospects in the polls.

Though both Siddaramaiah and DKS have overtly maintained that the chief minister will be decided by party’s newly elected MLAs and the high command on gaining majority in the polls, their loyalists and camp followers have been projecting their respective leader, making things messy.

Poll bugle

The birthday event comes ahead of the party sounding the poll bugle despite reservations from a section of the old guard which reportedly includes DKS, who has said that he was opposed to the “personality cult” in the party. Rahul will also visit Chitradurga’s Murugarajendra Mutt, a prominent Lingayat seminary in the region, during the visit on August 3, and meet Sri Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru and seers of various mutts.

During his last visit to the state in April, he had set a target of winning 150 seats and urged for unity among the partys rank and file.

With agency inputs