BENGALURU: In a scathing attack on Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dr G Parameshwar, Mr C M Lingappa, MLC, on Tuesday said that the former was on cloud nine on assuming charge as deputy chief minister but had mortgaged the party’s interests.
He told the media at Ramanagar, home constituency of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, that Dr Parameshwar was pandering to whims and fancies of Janata Dal (Secular) leaders at a time when he ought to have quit as president of the state unit of Congress after the debacle in last month’s elections to the Assembly. He lacked the courage and charisma to lead the party back to power in the state though he often claimed that Congress would retain power.
The upshot: the Congress party had to part with the Chief Minister’s post to Janata Dal (Secular) though the party won a mere 37 seats. Besides, he took little pain to protect party legislators when the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party were trying to poach them, he said.
On the other hand, former energy minister D K Shivakumar stood guard and ensured that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders did not gain access to Congress legislators, he added.
A die-hard supporter of Mr Shivakumar, Mr Lingappa felt the party would have won 115 seats in case the former energy minister held reins before the polls.
He expressed confidence that Mr Shivakumar would be inducted into the cabinet on Wednesday.
