Bengaluru: The ruling Congress has finally woken up to the concerns expressed by party seniors, who have of late been making statements against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has convened a meeting of senior leaders on Wednesday and the party coordination committee meeting on Sunday to discuss their grievances.
Senior leaders, including former railway minister, C. K. Jaffer Sharief and former Mysuru MP A.H. Vishwanath have been invited to participate in the meeting which indicates that the party is making an attempt to assuage the feelings of these leaders.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a senior leader said that the meetings are a direct outcome of former external affairs minister, S. M. Krishna's resignation episode and the continuous targeting of Mr Siddaramaiah's style of functioning by a few seniors.
“This is not a new allegation against him. Perhaps, he is the only Congress Chief Minister who has survived despite party MLAs and senior leaders continuously accusing him of nepotism and favouritism.
Of late, these seniors have become more vocal and with the party going to polls in about 400 days, it makes sense to have a meeting of senior leaders and the co-ordination committee to iron out differences,” the source explained.
Meanwhile, speaking to this newspaper, KPCC working president Dinesh Gundurao asserted that the party had convened both meetings to discuss and chalk out strategies to face the Assembly elections in May 2018.
“There is no disunity in our party but of course, some leaders making statements does not augur well for our party’s functioning. This is a precursor to the party's co-ordination meeting that is scheduled for Sunday, in which, AICC general secretary, Digvijay Singh will be participating," explained Mr Gundurao.
Denying speculation that these meetings were convened to assuage disgruntled senior leaders, Mr Rao said, “The meetings will provide an opportunity to every senior leader in the state to express views freely within the party forum. Their opinions do matter to all of us. We will obtain their suggestions and discuss them during the party co-ordination committee meeting.”
