Bengaluru: Even as efforts are being made to dislodge Home Minister Dr G Parameshwar from the post of president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), Congress legislators and the Lok Sabha member from Tumakuru district came out in his support and urged the party high command to continue him in the same post at least till the 2018 Assembly polls.
Addressing a joint press conference here on Thursday, Mr Mudduhanumegowda, MP, Mr K.S. Rajanna and Mr Rafiq Ahmed, both legislators and Venkataramanappa, former minister opined that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Dr Paramewhar enjoy a good chemistry and this combination had to be continue until the next Assembly polls. Dr Parameshwar, as state party unit chief, had done good work in the last five years. The party would have to face the coming elections under the collective leadership of Mr Siddaramaiah and Dr Parameshwar and that would benefit it a lot. However, they would respect any decision taken by the party high command in this regard, they added.
They said Dr Parameshwar had been a non-controversial person and there was no allegation against him. Only two states in the country, including Karnataka, had a dalit as the PCC president. He was balancing the coordination between the government and the party quite well. The Congress Party has a bright chance of coming back to power if Mr Siddaramaiah and Dr Parameshwar take over the leadership of the campaign in the 2018 Assembly polls, the leaders felt. Besides, with bye-elections to be held soon to Nanjangud and Gundlupet, they need to have him at the helm of affairs.
"Our request to the high command is to continue Dr Parameshwar as PCC chief, it does not mean we are against others occupying the post. We will accept whoever is selected as the new Pradesh Congress Committee chief by the high command".
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Sources told Deccan Chronicle that some ministers, in the Congress coordination committee held recently, had demanded replacement of Dr Parameshwar by another person in view of the coming Assembly polls. While the CM was in favour of having former minister and sitting MLC, Mr S.R. Patil in place of Dr Parameswhar, there was no positive response from the high command to this proposal. In fact, the high command was very keen on making Energy Minister D.K. Shivakumar the new PCC chief but the CM was reportedly not happy with this idea.
The high command was aware of the fact that Mr Patil lacked charisma compared to Mr Shivakumar and changing Dr Parameshwar at this juncture would mean inviting fresh trouble. The sources maintained that changing Dr Parameswhar may send a message that the Congress party was anti-dalit. Already, a couple of Dalit Congress legislators had expressed their displeasure over this move and had warned the CM of serious repercussions in the coming Assembly polls. With the exit of a senior Congress leader, Mr V Srinivasaprasad from the party, Dalit voters were upset and they may vent their anger in the coming polls. In fact, Dr Parameshwar had shown interest in holding two positions-home minister and KPCC president till the Assembly polls.
