BENGALURU: Groupism continues to dog the Indian National Congress. A new camp is emerging within the state unit, which already has two power centres — former CM Siddaramaiah and KPCC president D K Shivakumar. A group of old loyalists, comprising BK Hariprasad, KH Muniyappa, Dr G Parameshwara, Margaret Alva, HK Patil and other leaders have held three meetings so far, and the group’s ranks are swelling with leaders who do not identify with the two chief camps. It is said that the shocking defeat in the Sira and RR Nagar bypolls led to a coming together of the old guard, for whom the party comes before all else.
While the Congress government of 2013-2018 was largely united, the loss of power in 2018 saw a severe erosion in ranks in the Siddaramaiah camp. The Siddaramaiah faction comprises Siddaramaiah, HC Mahadevappa, Zameer Ahmed, Ashok Pattan, Prakash Rathod and a few others.
After the loss in 27 of 28 parliamentary seats in 2019, besides the assembly bypolls, Siddaramaiah resigned as CLP leader, and Dinesh Gundu Rao as KPCC president in December 2019. With DK Shivakumar anointed the new KPCC president, the Shivakumar faction emerged, comprising his brother D K Suresh, MLA Ranganath Doddaiah and other loyalists.
Now, with the Maski and Basavakalyan bypolls — both traditional party seats — looming, the new group appears to be jostling for a say in party affairs. The bypoll was necessitated after Congress Maski MLA Pratap Gowda Patil fell prey to Op Lotus, and Basavakalyan MLA Narayana Rao passed away. These seats come under former Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge’s area of influence, and Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah may not be able to win the seats without Kharge’s support.
The central leadership, too, has reposed trust in these leaders: former minister H K Patil has been given charge of Maharashtra, former Union minister K H Muniyappa holds CWC invitee status, while former Rajya Sabha MP B K Hariprasad managed to bag an MLC seat under severe odds. For this group, the party is prime, and so is its revival.
Party loyalists, too, are happy with the swelling of ranks of this group. “At least we have a group which is interested in fostering the ideological strength of the party, and is not about personalities,” an old party hand remarked.
BV Srinivas is Indian Youth Congress prez
Bengaluru: After serving as interim President of Indian Youth Congress, Karnataka-origin BV Srinivas was appointed full term to the post. On Wednesday, Indian National Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal announced Srinivas’ appointment as Chief of Congress’ youth wing. Forty-year-old Srinivas hails from Shivamogga. He started his political career with NSUI and went on to hold various posts at district and state levels.
With his appointment as full-time president, both BJP and the Congress have leaders from Karnataka as youth wing presidents. Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya was appointed president of BJP Yuva Morcha. While Srinivas has been at the forefront of protests for the IYC ever since he took charge as interim chief in July 2019, his profile has been low when compared to his BJP counterpart. Srinivas’ work was recognised while being at the forefront in distributing relief material to migrant workers during the lockdown, and more recently, for providing support to agitating farmers. ENS