BENGALURU: A day after meeting former Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, KPCC President DK Shivakumar said he was in no hurry to become chief minister. “I am not in a hurry to become chief minister. My aim now is to bring the Congress party back to power, that is all,’’ Shivakumar said, in a sharp reaction to MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan’s chant of “Siddaramaiah for CM”.
Asked about the leadership tussle both in the ruling BJP and Congress, Shivakumar said, “There is a world of difference between the issues in the BJP and Congress. Our focus should be on getting the BJP out and ensuring the Congress comes to power. If we divert our time and energies in anything other than this, it would be a sheer waste. Let us all work towards defeating the BJP.”
In response to Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy’s claim that only if they go to polls under Siddaramaiah’s leadership will they win, he had only two sarcastic words to say, “very nice”. It may be recalled that Murthy had targeted Shivakumar even after his house was burned by rioters in the August 2020 riots over an objectionable Facebook post.
On Harihar MLA S Ramappa’s statement that Siddaramaiah should be allowed to become chief minister in 2023, as Shivakumar has age on his side, he said, “Have I ever said I’m in a hurry to become chief minister? My target is to bring the party back to power.’’
Meanwhile, Bengaluru Rural MP D K Suresh, referring to the statements of Zameer Ahmed and Murthy, said that “true Congressmen and Congress leaders will focus on party structure, they will abide by party discipline, those who joined the Congress in search of power speak irresponsibly and cause confusion’’.
Both Ahmed and Murthy switched from JDS to the Congress, when the party was in power from 2013 to 2018.