BENGALURU: Congress MLC BK Hariprasad who once rubbed shoulders with the high and mighty of the party does not have much say with the party high command anymore was evident when he was not allowed to speak at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held in Hyderabad on Saturday and Sunday.
At the same time, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was the target of Hariprasad’s recent virulent attack, and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar were allowed to take the dais. This indicated a paradigm shift in the party high command’s thinking, a political observer said.
But this change has been happening for some time now. Hariprasad has been sidelined ever since the rise of general secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal within the party. But Hariprasad loyalists claim that Venugopal’s ascent has had no impact on the career of their leader.
In the twilight of his career, 69-year-old Hariprasad was sent to Karnataka and was made an MLC. But after Congress came to power in the state this May, Siddaramaiah did not give him a ministerial berth, which is seen as a major snub to the once-powerful Ediga leader, the political observer said.
Declining fate of leaders
While Hariprasad was part of Sonia’s close coterie, he has not been able to break into the inner ring of Rahul which is dominated by Venugopal. At the same time, Siddaramaiah has managed to get close to Rahul through Venugopal, he pointed out.
Same has been the declining fate of senior leaders like Dr G Parameshwara, H K Patil and others too. When Parameshwara, who was the then KPCC president, lost from the Koratagere Assembly constituency in 2013, it was Sonia who first called him up and expressed her sympathies, he added. But a lot has changed since then.