BENGALURU: THE collapse of the coalition government will cause damage to many, and one of the worst-hit by the Congress-JDS alliance failure is bound to be AICC General Secretary and state in-charge
KC Venugopal.
The man credited with turning the Karnataka Congress organisation around after Digvijaya Singh’s exit, has seen one low after another during the coalition’s tenure. Venugopal, who was handed charge of Karnataka in April 2017, is considered a close confidant of Rahul Gandhi. He may have fixed organisation issues and brought internal stability to the state Congress, but began losing the position of a formidable alliance party leader with the JDS during negotiations of the Lok Sabha polls. With H D Deve Gowda refusing to hold talks with anyone except Rahul Gandhi, Venugopal’s position as a strategist took a beating. Infighting in the Congress that was brought under control by Venugopal, ironically remerged stronger under his very watch. AICC President Rahul Gandhi’s sudden resignation after the Lok Sabha poll debacle only added to Venugopal’s woes.
First, the coalition partner, then his own partymen refused to let bickering die down. Then came the rebellion that cost the coalition dear, and things rapidly ran out of Venugopal’s control. Digvijay Singh was replaced as in-charge after his failure to stitch up a government in Goa. While the Congress is unlikely to take similar action against Venugopal, the crisis has definitely taken a toll on his stature and standing.