BENGALURU: Former chief minister Siddaramaiah’s birthday bash, besides boosting the morale of his supporters who organised the event at Davanagere on Wednesday, may have set the ball rolling for the Congress for the 2023 assembly polls in Karnataka.
Presuming the party will return to power in 2023, Siddaramaiah’s followers tried their best to convince Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to give him another chance, claiming he can reverse the policies of the BJP government, a source informed TNIE.
Former minister R V Deshpande also held a one-on-one meeting with Rahul, and gave his own feedback. It is said Rahul took everyone’s suggestions, but remained non-committal to their demands. Meanwhile, rivals BJP and JDS have taken serious note of the Congress unity through the birthday bash, to chalk out a strategy accordingly.
“Our Janata Jaladhare was still a huge hit,” remarked JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy. The bash was held at a time when Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s first anniversary celebrations ‘Janothsava’ failed to take off due to the murder of BJYM leader Praveen Nettaru.
The Congress camp mood is reminiscent of 2012, when AICC president Sonia Gandhi had attended a massive rally at Siddaganga Mutt, and the party had eventually come to power. But that was a united Congress. Now, heavyweight leaders like KPCC president D K Shivakumar are in the race for the top post, and internal bickering may come to the fore during the selection of candidates, predicts a party leader.
The Siddaramaiah camp is elated with Rahul Gandhi ‘blessing’ the occasion with a pat for him as a leader with compassion. It could mean that Siddaramaiah is likely to safeguard the interests of his supporters in getting party tickets. “It’s interesting to see how Shivakumar tackles the challenge,” said another leader. If the BBMP polls are held ahead of the assembly polls, it will be a litmus test for the party unity.