Maharashtra governor SM Krishna appears set to make a return to “active politics”.
NEW DELHI: Maharashtra governor SM Krishna appears set to make a return to “active politics”. Sources close to the Congress leadership indicated that though he has been given permission to put in his papers, no promises have been made on whether he will once again lead the party on his return to Karnataka.
Krishna has been itching to get back to active politics in the state for over a year, but the Congress leadership has refused to oblige him. Undeterred, he persisted with his request till the Congress president finally agreed. Part of the reason for Sonia Gandhi’s reluctance to agree to his request was the strong resistance from the party’s state unit and a majority of the central leaders from Karnataka.
It appears that there is strong resistance to Krishna from Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee chief Mallikarjun Kharge, former state chief minister Veerappa Moily, AICC general secretary BK Hariprasad and former minister CK Jaffer Sharief. Krishna’s bid to move back to Karnataka was backed by two senior ministers at the Centre and they are reported to have finally persuaded Sonia Gandhi with the argument that his return to the state will help the party among the Vokkaligas.
Krishna has never made any pretence about his boredom with his current job as governor and of his desire to go back to the state. He has lost no opportunity in the past few months to lobby both personally and through friends with both prime minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.
The Congress high command appears mindful of the fact that any attempt to hand over the leadership to Krishna might fracture the semblance of unity that exists in the party at the moment. Those opposed to Krishna have been putting forward the argument that he is not coming back to the state merely to be on the sidelines and any attempt to displace Kharge is likely to boomerang on the party, much like Anjiah’s aribitary removal in Andhra Pradesh.
“Kharge is Dalit, who constitute 23% of the population. His removal will be an extremely unpopular move and will play into the hands of parties such as the Bahujan Samaj Party,” says a senior Delhi-based leader from Karnataka.
j_ansari@dnaindia.net
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