BENGALURU: Congress state leaders have been showing signs of having had enough with the JDS and its leaders’ constant criticisms, but the Grand Old Party’s high command won’t have any of these antics. In a clear warning to the party state leadership, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal is said to have asked all bickering to be put on hold till May 23 — the date when the Lok Sabha election results will be declared.
While a section of Congress state leaders have been arguing that going to polls in alliance with the JDS may have been a mistake and are waiting for May 23 to prove their point, the central leadership of the party is also insistent that its decision for an alliance was in the best interests. The Congress high command hopes to use the Lok Sabha results to prove its point that much like the bypolls to Ballari, Mandya and Shivamogga parliamentary seats and Assembly seats of Ramanagar and Jamkhandi in 2018, the alliance worked in the Congress’ advantage either in victories or in vote share.
“Come May 23 and we will see how the coalition has played out. Differences of opinions are bound to exist, but we have seen the coalition bring successful results in bypolls. Now is not the time to discuss or assess the situation ... but coalition is under no threat. There is no infighting between us and the purported bickering is a mere media created hype,” Venugopal told The New Indian Express. Sources from the state Congress confirmed that stern warning has been issued to keep away from controversies. “There will be no development till May 23. We have placed our qualms before the high command and have been asked to wait till Lok Sabha results. But all have been asked to keep their agitation at bay,” a source added. The warning, perhaps, also impacted former CM Siddaramaiah who took to Twitter on Tuesday to reiterate that the question of him becoming the chief minister was unnecessary for now since H D Kumaraswamy is already occupying the position in the coalition government.
The JD(S) too, with Kumaraswamy taking the initiative of talking to Siddaramaiah, seems to be trying to wave a white flag. While no leader of the JDS has openly condemned or rejected party state chief Vishwanath’s remarks, the party leadership has been asked to wait and watch for the result day before making matters worse.