Bengaluru: He may have lost the prized home ministry, but KPCC president Dr G. Parameshwar looked very much at home showing no sign of deprivation as he went about his task of tackling questions posed by the media on why he had to resign from the Siddaramaiah ministry.
Speaking to reporters soon after submitting his resignation, he avoided tricky questions on whether he was forced by the party high command to resign and reminded reporters of the fact that he had offered to resign as minister a month ago, if he was given the choice of retaining one post-either that of home minister or KPCC chief.
“Our main aim is to come back to power in the next elections. We have a great challenge and responsibility and I have to concentrate more on the party organisation. Even before the high command told me, I had offered to quit the ministry,” he said.
When asked why the same parameter was not applicable to others (like energy minister D.K. Shivakumar), who were given important responsibilities in the party organisation, Dr Parameshwar said that as KPCC president, his responsibilities were more. He stressed that it was very important for the Congress to come back to power in Karnataka. “The country is looking at the 2018 elections and Karnataka is one of the few states where the party is in power. During the last by-elections to Nanjangud and Gundlupet, we got a favourable signal that people have accepted our governance,” he said.
On why the Congress was making a huge panel with two KPCC working presidents and a campaign committee chairman, he said that the party was looking at both positives and negatives.
“While we won two by-elections, earlier we had lost Hebbal also. We have our own strategy for coming back to power. The party has discussed everything and taken a decision on how the organisational set-up should look like,” he explained. Asked about reports on early elections to the state Assembly, he said the party was ready to face elections anytime.
