Bengaluru: Congress president Rahul Gandhi has reportedly entrusted former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah with the task of dousing the unrest in the party in a few districts over its decision to give certain constituencies to the Janata Dal (Secular) for the coming Lok Sabha poll.
Mr Gandhi, who was in the city Monday evening following a public meeting in Kalaburagi, had a brief interaction with Mr Siddaramaiah on the subject, according to sources. Mr Siddaramaiah is said to have not only promised to fix the problem, but also ensure that the party would hold a joint campaign with the JD(S) in all 28 parliamentary constituencies.
Congress leaders of Mandya, Hassan and Tumakuru have been upset at the party's decision to give up their constituencies to the JD(S) as part of the seat sharing arrangement between the coalition partners and have threatened not to campaign for it.
Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwar made a futile bid to retain Tumakuru, which the party had won in 2014 despite the Modi wave, in the face of a growing demand from many sitting and former legislators and the threat from former MLA, K N Rajanna to contest as an independent.
With no end to the dissidence in sight, Mr Siddaramaiah will meet Tumakuru Congress leaders on Wednesday and later leaders of Hassan and Mandya to sort out the issue before the process of filing nominations is completed.
It remains to be seen whether he will succeed where KPCC president, Dinesh Gundurao and working president, Eshwar Khandre, have failed.
But it is evident that Mr Siddaramaiah is fast emerging as a troubleshooter for the party owing to his experience in handling serious political crises in the past.
