Karnataka minister Dinesh Gundu Rao may replace BK Hariprasad as AICC general secretary
Bengaluru: Ahead of the AICC reshuffle, there is a strong buzz in Congress ranks that it is time to push the food and civil supplies minister, Dinesh Gundu Rao to the centre. While the minister himself has not agreed to make the move as yet, a large section of city Congress legislators from the city and the state believe that it is time that a new face represented their interests in Delhi and that someone new takes the place of, B.K. Hariprasad, a AICC general secretary for more than three decades in Delhi.
Less than a fortnight ago, senior leaders from the city met over dinner in a plush hotel and reportedly broached the topic to Mr Rao. A senior leader who was part of the meeting told Deccan Chronicle that the minister was ambivalent about the move, even though it had the support of the group that is opposed to Mr Hariprasad, a Congress veteran with deep roots in the Delhi political scene, and who is ranged against them.
"Mr Rao neither showed any inclination nor rejected the idea wholly. He only said, he was happy at the moment to be a minister, and that he wanted to see where the fates take him in the days to come." The leader observed that for several years now, a section of senior leaders have used every opportunity to weaken the group headed by KPCC chief G Parameshwara and before that former CM S.M.Krishna.
They said that this camp, headed by All India Congress Committee general secretary B.K. Hariprasad blocks them at every juncture. "The same group attempted at least for a decade to sideline former railway minister and veteran Congress leader, C. K. Jaffer Sharief. Therefore, the attempt to bring in a new face, Mr Rao on-board for a fresh voice to be heard," the source explained.
The source added that this group is hoping that once AICC vice-president, Rahul Gandhi is elevated as the party president, he would overhaul the party set-up. "They are hoping that Mr Rao may be brought into the new set-up headed by Mr Gandhi and many senior leaders from Karnataka either be dropped or replaced with new faces like Mr Rao. It is with this in mind that the group has suggested that Mr Rao should move to central politics," the source disclosed.
