Bengaluru: With many in the state Congress including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah opposing the nomination of Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar to the post of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, finding a successor to incumbent president Dr G. Parameshwar, has become a complicated affair.
Till the appointment of Dinesh Gundurao as KPCC working president, Mr Shivakumar was considered the hot favourite to lead the KPCC in the 2018 Assembly polls.
However, according to sources, several Congress leaders had informed the central leadership that Mr Shivakumar was not the best choice. Even Mr Siddaramaiah was of the same view, sources said.
Those opposing Mr Shivakumar’s candidature assert that the Chief Minister and the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working president are from south Karnataka and so the president post cannot be given to a leader from this region. But the real reasons are different.
The majority of the leaders do not approve of Mr Shivakumar’s style of functioning. They feel that Mr Shivakumar has in him streaks of authoritarianism and this would prove counter productive during the elections.
Mr Siddaramaiah, sources said, felt that if Mr Shivakumar is made the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief, he would dictate the candidate selection process during the election and by doing so, might undermine the authority of the Chief Minister.
This was the main reason why the CM opposed his candidature, sources said.
The Congress top brass was keen on appointing a leader from north Karnataka belonging to the majority Lingayat community as KPCC president and had even considered former IT and BT minister, S.R.Patil for the prestigious post. Later, they realised that Mr Patil was no match for Bharatiya Janata Party’s B.S. Yeddyurappa, who is now party state president.
“This has has put us in a spot. The central leadership is in a dilemma whether to replace Dr Parameshwar or not. Even though the party is for replacing Dr Parameshwar as per the one man one post norm, they are unable to find a capable leader acceptable to all," sources said. Dr Parameshwar is now Home Minister in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet.
