Bengaluru: The Congress may have been rattled by a series of Income Tax raids on its leaders, but not everyone in the party seems to be standing by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to fight the damaging fallout.
At Monday’s press conference too, only leaders like Basavaraj Rayareddy, Ramesh Kumar and V.S. Ugrappa, who have migrated to the party from the Janata parivar like Mr Siddaramaiah himself, came to his defence on the charges made against him by state BJP chief, B S Yeddyurapppa. They were joined merely by two junior ministers, Dr Sharan Prakash Patil and Mr Eshwara Khandre.
KPCC president, Dr G. Parameshwar, who could have shot down all talk of the Chief Minister saving his chair by paying off the high command in crores, was nowhere around, note party insiders.
“Since the issue raised by Mr Yeddyurappa was about the party giving money to the high command, if Dr Parameshwar had explained the Congress culture of collecting and sending party money to its high command, it could have been a big help. But the fact that Dr Parameshwar has not commented in public on the matter for the last 48 hours shows the party is divided and those who see themselves as the original Congressmen as against the ‘outsiders’ who have migrated to it in recent years are not happy with the developments involving the Chief Minister and his close aides,” said one leader.
The “original” Congressmen reportedly feel Mr Siddaramaiah is denting the party’s image by not acting against some senior ministers with dubious reputations and see the Income Tax department’s raids on officials close to them as the last straw. They are therefore reluctant to come to his rescue on any issue, claim party sources.
