BENGALURU: The Congress has hit the ground running, with the party top brass and newly appointed office-bearers holding a brainstorming session for the 2023 assembly elections, at the KPCC office here on Wednesday. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge, Opposition Leader in the assembly Siddaramaiah, former Union minister K H Muniyappa, Campaign Committee chairman M B Patil, working presidents Satish Jarkiholi, Eshwar Khandre, R Dhruvanarayan and others attended the marathon meeting.
AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala suggested that the party rank and file highlight the failures of the Bommai government, especially issues related to corruption. He told them to take up the hot-button issues -- the contractors’ allegation of 40 per cent commission against the government, price of fuel, LPG and essential commodities, and reach the message to people at the grassroots, sources told TNIE.
Some office-bearers, especially former MLAs who were given posts of vice- presidents and secretaries, and were apprehensive about missing out on party tickets in their assembly constituencies, attended the meeting promptly.
“We have nothing to do with these posts, we want the assurance that we will get tickets,” a former MLA told TNIE. There was a buzz that some of these leaders were being given organisational posts as the party is unlikely to field them, unless a survey conducted by KPCC President D K Shivakumar, especially in the Vokkaliga bastion of Old Mysuru region, indicates their chance of winnability, a source said.
Parameshwara skips meet
Former DyCM Dr G Parameshwara’s absence at the meeting was noticeable. He returned from New Delhi to Bengaluru on Tuesday, and went out of town on a two-day personal trip, a source said.
He had also skipped Rahul Gandhi’s session with party workers, held in Bengaluru on April 1, as he was busy sharing the dais with Union Home Minister Amit Shah at Siddaganga Mutt in Tumakuru.