Bengaluru: On his ‘gharwapsi’ to the Congress, former Speaker, K.R. Ramesh Kumar on Wednesday bemoaned that the ‘five star culture’ has crept into the party, which has resulted in a series of debacles.
Speaking to reporters after he formally took the primary membership of the party from which he had resigned soon after he was elected to the Speaker's post 14 months ago, Mr Kumar said, "I know how the Congress used to function earlier, Congress leaders and workers used to eat Chitranna (Lemon Rice) and were always in the street fighting for people's causes. But of late, the five star hotel culture that has crept in is ruining our party. It is better that we get rid of this culture soon."
Much to the embarrassment of party top leaders who were present, Mr Kumar snapped that leaders also need to bury their differences and work unitedly. "Our tall leaders, be it Mrs Sonia Gandhi or our president, Rahul Gandhi left lucrative posts that were offered to them on a platter. When we have such leaders who are ready to sacrifice anything for the party's sake, we have others (in various states) who are fighting for their supremacy. If this is the way we (leaders) are going to fight, there is no future for anyone of us here," he lamented.
Slamming party state leaders without taking names, Mr Kumar deplored the growing fondness for the flex-banner culture. "Our party leaders love flex-banners which has resulted in the induction of several real estate agents into the party without even verifying their antecedents. Had our leaders kept aside their love for banners, we would not have faced such a scenario today. We had to disqualify 17 of our MLAs and most of them have a real estate background," he slammed and added that the party leaders should at least now think how to add more votes to the Congress kitty. "We are left with no choice but to bring back every vote we have lost to our rival party," he said.
Earlier, Congress Legislature Party leader, Siddaramaiah and KPCC president, Dinesh Gundurao welcomed Mr Kumar to the party fold by giving him the primary membership certificate.
