A little over a month after quitting as Congress Legislature Party leader, former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will meet the party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday and discuss picking a new president for the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and other political developments in the State.
On December 9 last year, the then KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao and Leader of the Opposition Mr. Siddaramaiah resigned from their posts following the party’s drubbing in the byelections to 15 Assembly seats. The All-India Congress Committee is slated to hold a meeting on Tuesday and decide on candidates for both these vacant posts.
While the party high command is expected to ask Mr. Siddaramaiah to continue as Leader of the Opposition, discussions are likely to be confined to picking a new KPCC chief, sources in the party said.
In the running
Mr. Siddaramaiah was invited to the national capital after MLA and senior leader D.K. Shivakumar returned from New Delhi last week. Though there are three or four candidates vying for the post, Mr. Shivakumar is believed to be among the frontrunners.
The leader, seen as the party’s trouble-shooter, is the choice of several leaders, including Ahmed Patel, who is a close confidant of Ms. Gandhi. Party insiders say that a section of leaders has been lobbying hard with the party high command to prevent the appointment of Mr. Siddaramaiah’s choice of candidate, given that his leadership led the party to defeat in multiple elections within the span of two years in the State.
KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre has been playing the Lingayat card and lobbying for the post. Two of Mr. Siddaramaiah’s supporters — M.B. Patil and Krishna Byre Gowda — too are also said to be making a bid for the post. Seven-time MP and Dalit leader K.H. Muniyappa has been lobbying for the post for several months.
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