E-Paper
No leadership issue in Karnataka unit: Congress leader Venugopal
There are at least two camps within the Congress in the state with Opposition leader Siddaramaiah leading one and the party’s state chief DK Shivakumar the other
Congress leader KC Venugopal on Tuesday insisted there is no leadership issue in the party’s Karnataka unit while calling individual opinions about the matter unacceptable. He said they will fight “unitedly” against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2023 assembly elections and return to power in the state. Venugopal added the party’s top leadership and lawmakers will decide who the leader will be.
“The leaders all together took a decision that no...internal matters [are] to be discussed in the public and this was agreed and supported unanimously. There is no leadership issue and if somebody is giving [an] individual opinion [about it] that also is not acceptable,” Venugopal said in Hubballi, where former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi attended the first meeting of the state unit’s Political Affairs Committee.
The committee has been formed to chalk out the strategy for the 2023 polls as Congress hopes to wrest power from BJP and form the government on its own.
There are at least two camps within the Congress. Opposition leader Siddaramaiah leads one and the party’s state chief DK Shivakumar the other.
The committee’s meeting was held a day before the celebrations of Siddaramaiah’s 75th birthday celebrations in Davangere as “Siddaramotsava”. The celebrations, which Gandhi will also attend, are seen as his show of his strength.
Shivakumar has sought the backing of the state’s Vokkaliga community to help him become the chief minister if Congress returns to power on its own in 2023. Several legislators from the Siddaramaiah camp have defied Shivakumar’s orders. They have backed Siddaramaiah as the chief ministerial candidate, fuelling the growing divide within the Congress ahead of the elections.
