'DK Shivakumar’s word is final’: Cong leader amid murmurs of feud over CM face

The high command told partymen to focus on the Karnataka legislative assembly elections rather than focusing on projecting a chief ministerial candidate.

Former Karnataka deputy chief minister G Parameshwara on Monday said that there is no factionalism in the state unit of Congress and the decisions taken by party president DK Shivakumar are the collective and final decisions of the party. His statement was in response to the Koppal MLA Raghavendra Hitnal’s demand to project former chief minister Siddaramaiah as the Congress’ chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming polls.

Murmurs of discord regarding the chief ministerial candidate for the 2023 elections surfaced soon after DK Shivakumar took oath as the Karnataka Congress president as cadres and MLAs are divided between Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah. (PTI)

“Whatever DK Shivakumar says is the party’s opinion. State party president is supreme here. The president could be DK Shivakumar, Dinesh Gundu Rao or me, whatever business it is, the president is supreme. Whatever he says comes with the Congress high command’s permission,” Parameshwara was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

People familiar with the developments told news agency ANI that murmurs of discord regarding the chief ministerial candidate for the 2023 elections surfaced soon after DK Shivakumar took oath as the Karnataka Congress president as cadres and MLAs are divided between Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah. The person cited above said that the high command told partymen to focus on the Karnataka legislative assembly elections rather than focusing on projecting a chief ministerial candidate.

“Be it Zameer Ahmed or anyone else in the party, they must follow the instructions of DK Shivakumar as he is the state party president. The party high command will clear any issues raised by anyone. There is no factionalism in the Congress,” he further added.

Parameshwar said that the party should focus on winning the polls and returning to power while highlighting that Siddaramaiah said the opinions shared by the MLAs are their own. Earlier Congress leader Zameer Ahmad demanded Siddaramaiah to be projected as the chief ministerial candidate in the upcoming polls.

Hitnal earlier said citizens of the state want to see Siddaramaiah back at the helm. He said Zameer Ahmad’s statement was backed by the people of the state. “People of the state want Siddaramaiah as their CM which is why Zameer Ahmad made the statement. It is the opinion of the people of Karnataka,” Hitnal said. He also said that Siddaramaiah would have tackled the Covid-19 situation better than incumbent chief minister BS Yediyurappa.

“It is not simply my opinion. It is the opinion of the auto driver, the poor, daily wage worker and shopkeepers. As far as people’s opinion is concerned, there is 100 to 200% guarantee that Siddaramaiah will become the next chief minister for sure,” he further added.

Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit which last week held a series of meetings with senior leaders and cabinet ministers to discuss the internal feuds in the state unit said that DK Shivakumar is surrounded by backstabbers. Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa said that the fight between the cadres has the potential to hurt Congress. “The fight for the chief minister’s post within the Congress with (either faction) dreaming of either Siddaramaiah or DK Shivakumar in the CM's chair can create more problems for Congress in future for sure. DK Shivakumar must not forget that backstabbers are behind him,” Eshwarappa said.