Karnataka Cong in fix over selection of State leader ahead of election

Karnataka: The fight for leader of Opposition ahead of the State's Assembly elections has reportedly caused infighting among member of the Indian National Congress. As per local media inputs, it has been reported that the old members and the new members of Congress fought with each other in the State. On Sunday, October 6, party General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry called a meeting with the legislators and party leaders for the selection of Congress leader of opposition ahead of the upcoming Assembly session in Karnataka. Mistry was entrusted with the collection of recommendations of 63 senior leaders which included MLAs, MPs, MLCs and even former Ministers. Republic has accessed a list of leaders consulted by Mistry.

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MP H Hanumanthappa's silent protest outside Congress office

In the list that Republic has accessed - 2MLAs- Byrathi Suresh and Zameer Ahmed have collected letter signed by 52 Congress MLAs supporting Siddaramaiah to be the Leader of Opposition. In the letter, Mistry has told Siddarmaiah and his camp to not try to subvert the process set by the high command. Amidst ongoing discussions within the party to elect the Leader of Opposition in Karnataka assembly, senior Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha MP H Hanumanthappa on Sunday sat on a silent protest in front of the Congress office in Bengaluru. 

Hanumanthappa appealed to all Congressmen to avoid making factions within the party and work in unison for its betterment. "Congress needs to survive but the present scenario in the nation is not good for the Congress. Our leaders should stop 'groupism' and start working for the betterment of the party," he said. Speaking outside the meeting, Ramalinga Reddy earlier in the day stated, "One of the main issues which we discussed was about the selection of opposition leader. Till now, Siddaramaiah and HK Patil are in the contention, however, Siddaramaiah is likely to be chosen as Leader of Opposition."

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'Not in favour of one-man party leadership' 

Former KPCC president Dr G Parameswara held a separate meeting with Madhusudan Mistry on Sunday. The meeting was with regards to the election of the leader of the opposition and former Chief Minister Siddaramiah also held talks with Congress leaders MB Patil, HC Mahadevappa, Rizwan Arshad and Narendra Swami. Commenting on the ongoing party dynamics within the state unit of Congress, a senior leader, on condition of anonymity said, "Looking at the present condition of Congress in Karnataka, most of the senior leaders like KH Muniyappa, BK Hariprasad and H Hanumanthappa are not in favour of one-man party leadership like that of Siddaramaiah." 

"Some of the leaders are not in the favour of both contenders (Siddaramaiah and HK Patil). Our motive is to safeguard the Congress Party, not to safeguard single man," the Congressman stated. "The Congress does not have any familiar face in Karnataka who can lead the party from the front and Siddaramaiah is the only leader who can lead the party in Karnataka," another Congress leader stated. The three-day assembly session starts from October 10 and after the arrest of senior Congress leader DK Shivakumar, the party is facing an uphill task to tackle the newly-formed BJP government on major issues including flood relief. 

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(INPUTS FROM ANI)