BENGALURU: Congress is busy scouting for its Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly. The party high command has sent general secretary Madhusudan Mistry to Bengaluru to meet the legislators and party leaders and elicit their opinion. On Sunday, he met 63 members although he originally planned to meet only 38.
The split in the state party unit came to the fore with many contenders staking claim for the post. The strong contenders are CLP leader and ‘outsider’ Siddaramaiah and former minister and ‘original’ partyman HK Patil. The latter said whatever decision the senior leadership takes would be binding on all party leaders in Karnataka.
With just four days left for the three-day assembly session starting from October 10, Congress, the principal opposition party, has not yet decided its leader in the assembly to take on the ruling BJP.
The search is also on for the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council and candidates for the positions of whips of both Houses in addition the post of KPCC president. While G Parameshwara who was formerly KPCC president is a contender for the post, and considering there is not much of an opposition, it is a given that he will take over as the next state party chief. The names of the new leaders are likely to be announced on October 9.
On Sunday, a group of legislators loyal to Siddaramaiah ‘gatecrashed,’ into the venue and sought an appointment with Mistry. Meanwhile, a group of MLAs led by Byrati Suresh, Ashok Pattan, Zameer Ahmed, Krishna Byre Gowda and MB Patil held a meeting at Siddaramaiah’s residence Cauvery and collected signatures of legislators urging the leadership to continue Siddaramaiah as opposition leader. They collected signatures of 52 MLAs and 27 MLCs.
Amidst all the power struggle, a former Rajya Sabha MP, H Hanumanthappa, carried out a silent protest outside the KPCC office for party unity. Later, he said that with BJP ruling both the state and the Centre, this is the time for state partymen to be united instead of talking of original Congressmen and migrants. But unmindful of Hanumanthappa’s protest, some partymen said that the standoff is between migrants like Siddaramaiah and original Congressmen like HK Patil.
Siddaramaiah is a backward community leader, and the party wants to accommodate dalits, Lingayats, Vokkaligas and minorities. Parameshwara is a dalit while H K Patil is Reddy-Lingayat. If there is a new opposition leader, he will lead the party in the bypolls along with Siddararamaiah who will not be disturbed as CLP leader.
The Congress faces the crucial bypolls in about two months -12 of the 15 seats are vacated by party MLAs.