Published 15:36 IST, September 30th 2019
Cong leaders hold secret meet to outline complaints of Siddaramaiah
Senior Congress leaders held a secret meeting over the weekend to discuss measures to take their feud with former CM Siddaramiah to the Congress high command.
With rumblings within Congress growing in Karnataka, several senior leaders held a secret meeting at a private hotel in Bengaluru over the weekend to discuss measures to take their feud with former CM Siddaramiah to the Congress high command. Republic has learnt that senior leaders like KH Muniyappa, BK Hariprasad, Rajeev Gowda, KC Ramamurthy and others chalked out the list of grievances they had against Siddaramiah and his aides within the party, particularly KPCC president Dinesh Gundurao. The leaders decided to also highlight how several meetings were held ahead of the by-polls in the state, where senior leaders like themselves were not invited to.
They have also prepared a catalog of names of other seniors within the party, like G Parameshwara, Priyank Kharge and other former ministers, who are reportedly aggrieved with how the state unit of the party headed by Gundurao. Attempts will be made, over the next few days to also bring their discontentment on record and the same will be presented to the high command.
The complaint
The primary complaint of the dissidents is that Dinesh Gundurao, under the influence and guidance of Siddaramiah, has been taking in a dictatorial manner, sidelining other senior leaders. KH Miniyappa and BK Hariprasad had stormed out of a meeting just last week when their altercation with Siddaramiah camp peaked. Dinesh Gundurao, reacting allegations of clamour for his ouster, said, "Noone has so far asked for my resignation, if that is what the party and senior leaders want, I will step aside and make way for someone else. I don't function on anyone’s behest, as being alleged. I have disagreed openly with Siddaramaiah many times when I don't agree with his point of view."
What happened after the meeting
After the clandestine meeting, Hariprasad is said to have left to Delhi to convey their disagreements to the high command and to also urge them to not make Siddaramiah the leader of the opposition and replace Gundurao as KPCC president. Even as Gundurao too rushed to the national capital right after to firefight the situation, Republic has reliably learnt that the camp opposed to Siddaramiah is accentuating old Congress leaders losing confidence in Siddaramiah, who many still view as an outsider who joined the party just over a 13 years ago. An internal report tabulating the reasons for the loss in assembly elections and shoddy performance of the party in the Lok Sabha election is due to be submitted to AICC on October 2nd and sources indicate that there could be more trouble in the report for the former CM who is being held responsible for the party's dwindling fortunes.
Updated 23:08 IST, September 30th 2019