Dr G Parameshwar for collective leadership, Cong bigwigs backing him?
Bengaluru: In an obvious dig at former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is reportedly likely to take over as opposition leader in the state assembly besides heading the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), senior Congress leader G. Parameshwar warned here on Thursday that it was not possible to build the party by keeping everybody out and a collective leadership was the answer to bringing back the Congress to power in the state.
“Every one of us will work unitedly to build the party and bring it back to power. It is wrong on the part of anybody to think that only one person can build it. There is unanimity among us and we will work in this direction,” he said, speaking to reporters at his home in the city.
Dr Parameshwar, however, ruled out becoming president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee again and said the party high command would decide on who should be leader of the opposition in the state assembly at the right time.
“I could not attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting here on Wednesday as I was in Delhi. My absence should not be construed to mean that all is not well between me and Mr Siddaramaiah,” he said, adding he suspected “Vested interests” were behind the “baseless” claims of animosity between him and the former Chief Minister.
“If that was the case, Mr Siddaramaiah should not have been elected Chief Minister in 2013. Everyone in the party is wedded to its principles and ideology. There are no differences between the original Congress men and those who joined it later. The party is quite strong in Karnataka and it will come back to power in the next election,” he declared.
Refusing to attach any special significance to his meeting with AICC president, Sonia Gandhi in Delhi, he said he had decided to drop in to merely enquire about her health. He had also met senior Congress leader, D K Shivakumar who has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate and is recuperating in a Delhi hospital, to wish him speedy recovery.
