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Congress will return to power in 2023, says Siddaramaiah
The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief and Siddaramaiah both are aspirants for the top job if the party comes to power in next year’s elections
Former chief minister and leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah on Thursday said that the Congress party will come to power in the 2023 assembly elections and win at least 130 out of the 224 seats in the state.
“There are 10-12 winning candidates for @INCKarnataka in each of the constituencies. BJP does not have this problem and they don’t have roots everywhere. This is the reason why@BJP4Karnataka does Operation Kamala and takes MLAs from our party,” Siddaramaiah said in a series of posts on Twitter.
The statements come at a time when the internal fighting within the Congress in Karnataka has reached the corridors of Delhi as Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar were recently summoned by the party high command to try and resolve their differences.
The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief and Siddaramaiah both are aspirants for the top job if the party comes to power in next year’s elections. But their internal fight for dominance has dented the party’s chances to capitalise on the shortcomings of the Basavaraj Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.
Meanwhile, workers and legislators loyal to Siddaramaiah have announced to hold a month-long birthday celebrations on their leader’s birthday in August, calling it “Siddaramotsava” as a show of strength and stake his claim as the chief ministerial candidate before the state goes to the polls next year.
“I have never publicly celebrated my birthday. My friends and well-wishers are planning to celebrate it as I complete 75 years. This also becomes special as our leader Shri @RahulGandhi is coming to the program,” Siddaramaiah said.
The party on Thursday inducted the Janata Dal (Secular) legislator Srinivas Gowda who cross-voted in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections. Gowda was expelled for his actions by the JD(S). Former Mulbagal MLA Kothur Manjunath and former Chintamani MLA M C Sudhakar have also joined Congress.
The leaders from Kolar however have expressed concerns over the new inductees as they have fought long and hard battles against the same individuals in the past. The AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, on Thursday issued a statement in an attempt to douse the fire.
“Shri KH Muniappa is a senior leader with profound experience and commitment to the Congress. In order to put up a strong fight to defeat the BJP, we decided to forego all the differences and bitterness of the past,” he said.
