Siddaramaiah calls meet to take stock of rising opposition to him in party

Bengaluru: The showdown between former CM Siddaramaiah and his rivals at a Congress leaders’ meeting last week appears to have forced him and his acolytes to regroup and make an attempt to regain control of the party in Karnataka.

The fight between former Kolar MP K.H. Muniyappa and Mr Siddaramaiah at a meeting held to screen candidates for the coming assembly by-elections was bitter with the Congress Legislature Party Leader (CLP) seeming almost ready to physically assault his opponent at one point.

Disturbed by this open show of opposition to his leadership, Mr Siddaramaiah held a meeting last Saturday with his loyalists in the party, including KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao, K J George, Krishna Byre Gowda, K.R. Ramesh Kumar and Dr H.C. Mahadevappa.

Clearly upset at being targeted by his rivals in the party, Mr Siddaramaiah seemed to think they were emboldened by support from the high command, who he believed was going by their version of things despite his efforts to revitalise the party in Karnataka.

Stoutly backing him, Mr Byre Gowda reportedly put his full faith in Mr Siddaramaiah, saying he was the only leader in the party, who could keep its flock together. Almost all the leaders present at the meeting concurred with him. A minority leader from Bengaluru is said to have offered to use his contacts in the high command in Delhi to clear the misconceptions it seemed to have about Mr Siddaramaiah and also make it realise how important it was for it to trust him and give him the responsibility of rebuilding the party and taking on the ruling BJP in the state.

For Mr Siddaramaiah, its a hard change to weather as he was used to calling the shots when Mr Rahul Gandhi was AICC chief. Since Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s return to the helm of affairs in the party, its not all hunky dory for him anymore.