BENGALURU: AICC general secretary, Karnataka state in-charge, KC Venugopal, in a sudden decision, has asked to be excused of his Karnataka responsibilities. His request comes in the backdrop of an imminent reshuffle in the Congress at the national level, expected in about a fortnight.
Venugopal now holds the position of general secretary (organization), easily the most powerful of the general secretary posts in the Congress. Among the names doing the rounds is that of Ajay Maken, to replace Venugopal as in-charge of Karnataka.
When TNIE called Venugopal’s office in the afternoon, there was no confirmation on his resignation, but later in the day, it was confirmed that he had, indeed, asked to be excused from the Karnataka job.
Venugopal, who took charge of Karnataka at the end of April 2017, when the Siddaramaiah government was in power, has seen one setback after another. First, the Congress could not return to power in the state in 2018; second, the party could manage just one seat in the parliamentary election as against the BJP’s 25+1; third, the coalition government could not survive beyond 14 months, after 17 MLAs resigned; four, the Congress was decimated in the bypolls, losing 13 of the 15 seats contested.
With these losses weighing heavy, Opposition leader Siddaramaiah and KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao resigned on December 9, the day the bypoll results were announced.
It may be recalled that long-time Congress leader Roshan Baig had called KC Venugopal offensive names after the poor show in the parliamentary elections, and was issued a show cause notice to which he refused to respond, and subsequently suspended from the Congress.
Sources suggested that as the Congress is going in for a revamp in the state too, this development will be factored in when the new Karnataka team is finalised. The new KPCC president is likely to be announced soon after Sankranti.
Venugopal, who is from Kerala, had served as Union Minister for Civil Aviation in UPA-2.