Bengaluru: In a clear message to Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, that he ought to consult and arrive at a consensus with veteran leaders on all major decision, the co-ordination committee was recast into a 28-member body headed by Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Digvijay Singh, on Monday.
Unlike the previous one which had only eight members including ministers like D. K. Shivakumar, K. J. George, and Dr H. C. Mahadevappa, the new committee would witness the entry of three former chief ministers—S M Krishna, N Dharam Singh and M Veerappa Moily, former Union ministers Oscar Fernandes, K H Muniyappa, C.M. Ibrahim and Margaret Alva, Congress leader in Lok Sabha, M. Mallikarjuna Kharge, general secretary B K Hariprasad, and K. Rehman Khan, MP. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, five senior cabinet colleagues, KPCC president Dr G Parameshwar, working president Dinesh Gundu Rao, state youth Congress president Rizwan Arshad and state women’s unit president Lakshmi Hebbalkar, too, figure in the list of members.
Party insiders felt that three reasons triggered the formation of such a jumbo committee. First, Mr Siddaramaiah has been accused of taking unilateral decisions without taking any senior leaders into confidence. Second, he failed to gauge the intensity of rebellion after recent cabinet reshuffle exercise and last, Mr Digvijay Singh taking sides with Mr Siddaramaiah at all times.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader said several veterans had expressed their displeasure over Mr Siddaramaiah ignoring them or keeping away from them resulting in strained relations within the state unit.
Keeping an eye
Digvijay Singh, Dr G. Parameshwar, Dinesh Gundu Rao, Shantaram Naik, Dr A. Challa Kumar, Suraj Hegde, Siddaramaiah, R. V. Deshpande, K. J. George, M. B. Patil, D. K. Shivakumar, R. Roshan Baig, M. Mallikarjun Kharge, S.M Krishna, N. Dharam Singh, M. Veerappa Moily, Oscar Fernandes, Margaret Alva, D. K. Thara Devi, B. K. Hariprasad, K. Rehman Khan, K. H. Muniyappa,C.M. Ibrahim, Ratna Prabha, Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Rizwan Arshad, Manunath Gowda, Seva Dal organiser
