AICC observers will be in state today to elicit the views of Cong MLAs on new CM.
Electing the new chief minister is showing all signs of turning into a ticklish affair for the Congress high command. The party’s legislature leader Siddaramaiah has queered the pitch for the post and more party leaders have jumped into the fray for the post.
Senior party leader DK Shivakumar, who turned vocal after the Congress victory, went a step further to declare he is ready for a trial of strength. Siddaramaiah, sensing that the CM’s post is well within his striking distance (as KPCC president G Parameshwara lost the assembly poll), is wasting no time in opposing the ‘envelope’ system of the high command to choose the new CM.
Even as a team of AICC observers comprising Union ministers AK Antony, Ambika Soni and AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistry is set to arrive in Bangalore to elicit the opinion of party MLAs on electing the new CM, Siddaramaiah held a closed-door meeting of his loyalist MLAs at a hotel in Bangalore on Thursday night. More than 15 MLAs—including Dinesh Gundurao, Ramalinga Reddy, Srinivasa Prasad, Mahadevaprasad and others—attended the meeting.
According to sources in Siddaramaiah’s camp, the group will request the AICC observers to seek the opinion of individual MLAs and choose their most-preferred man. Parameshwara has called for a meeting of newly elected Congress MLAs on Friday, where the AICC observers will seek their opinion on their preference for the CM’s post. The AICC team will then submit a report to party supremo Sonia Gandhi. The party high command will take a decision as to who should be the CM.
The choice will be announced at a formal legislature party meeting, to be held within the next three to four days, said a senior functionary of state Congress.
Meanwhile, Union labour minister Mallikarjun Kharge is making quiet strides towards the ‘Gaddi’ with the support of AICC general secretary Oscar Fernandes and the Dalit lobby. His campaign for the post has received a further boost with Parameshwara declaring his support for him.
Kharge reminded the party high command that it could not keep its promise of making him the CM in 2004 due to coalition compulsions with the JD(S). Now it is time to fulfil that ambition for the ‘loyal Congressman’ who is the most senior and experienced in state Congress, he said.
Apart from these leaders, senior party leader RV Deshpande, Union ministers KH Muniyappa and M Veerappa Moily, senior state Congress leader TB Jayachandra, AICC general secretary Oscar Fernandes and another senior state Congress leader Shamanuru Shivashankarappa are also said to be in the race.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}