BENGALURU: If the hectic activity in the Congress this month is any indication, it is evident that the party is keen on getting its house in order to face the upcoming elections.
On Monday, AICC general secretary and in charge of party affairs in Karnataka K C Venugopal and in charge secretaries began a five-day consultation exercise with all the district-level leaders to thrash out problems plaguing the grassroots level.
District leaders are being questioned about problems at the local level, identifying if any disgruntled leaders in other parties could be inducted into the party and also about the formation of booth-level committees, well ahead of other parties.
This exercise comes after Venugopal and team spent three days earlier this month talking to leaders, district heads and disgruntled leaders trying to assess the situation in the state. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and KPCC president G Parameshwara were also present during the consultations.
Such has been the activity this month that elections to Youth Congress were also completed on Sunday.
The present exercise is being seen as an attempt to strategise and strengthen the party’s approach to defeat BJP’s Mission 150 campaign.
Jarkiholi brothers told to solve differences between them Former minister Satish Jarkiholi has always stuck a sour note as he was earlier unhappy with his Excise portfolio and then was not happy with the Small Scale Industries portfolio. He was dropped in the Cabinet reshuffle in 2016 and his brother Ramesh was inducted as Small Scale Industries Minister. Lately, Siddaramaiah also met Satish in an effort to get him on his good side as he has been threatening to join the BJP. Both Satish and Ramesh met the leaders on Monday and they are said to have been advised to solve the differences between them as it has been affecting the morale of the workers in the district.
Satish was asked not to consider leaving the party. MP Prakash Hukkeri and his son and MLA Ganesh Hukkeri, who are said to be considering joining the BJP, did not turn up for the meeting. Others who gave a miss to the consultations are Muddebihal MLA C S Nadagouda and Basavanabagewadi MLA Shivananda Patil, who has a running feud with Water Resources Minister M B Patil, a strong contender for the KPCC chief’s post.