Bengaluru: Countering the Bharatiya Janata Party in regions like Bombay-Karnataka and Hyderabad-Karnataka, considered its strongholds, in the Assembly elections barely a year away, was a prime point of discussion during the meeting AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi held with Karnataka Congress leaders on Monday in New Delhi.
Besides the all important issue of who would head the KPCC in an election year, the meeting saw Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hinting that he may fill the vacant berths in his cabinet after the monsoon session of the legislature, though this did not come up for discussion during the interaction with Mr Gandhi.
The meeting turned out to be a platform to debate the election strategy and lasted for over four hours.
Besides Mr Gandhi, it was attended by senior leaders, Mallikarjun Kharge, Oscar Fernandes, B.K. Hariprasad, Chief Minister, Siddaramaiah, Dr G. Parameshwar, K.H. Muniyappa, and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working president Dinesh Gundurao.
The contentious debate on who will head the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee saw Siddaramaiah backing former IT minister S.R. Patil but his candidature did not get much support from others.
“If Rahulji decides to change the incumbent, Dr G. Parameshwar, he may bring in another Dalit leader, Kolar MP, K.H. Muniyappa. This possibility is not ruled out,” sources added.
Another leader close to the CM camp however claimed they were confident of getting Patil’s candidature approved for the Pradesh Congress Committee president post. If Patil fails to make it, Siddaramaiah who had dropped Patil from the cabinet a year back, has two options: One is to bring him back into the cabinet or make him Legislative Council chairman to placate the dominant Lingayat community.
Emerging from the meeting Siddaramaiah said that the meeting did discuss organisational issues, change of office bearers and the strategy to be adopted for the next assembly elections.
