BENGALURU: KPCC president DK Shivakumar is likely to lead the party into the 2023 Assembly elections, which are about seven months away. The two year-term of Shivakumar ended recently and the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee at a formal general body meeting on Friday evening at Ambedkar Bhavan in Bengaluru passed a simple resolution to give AICC president Sonia Gandhi the power to appoint the KPCC president and AICC members from Karnataka. The resolution was proposed by PCC president DK Shivakumar which was seconded by Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and opposition leader in the Council BK Hariprasad.
Earlier, Hariprasad, who had served as AICC general secretary for 16 terms, spoke to the PCC members gathered at the venue and suggested that there should be no elections for the post. He asked the members, who are against the decision. to show their hands. No one lifted their hand. Again, he asked for a show of hands in support of the resolution and there was unanimous approval. The resolution was then passed without any dissent. Earlier, KPCC working president MLC Saleem Ahmed briefed the meeting about the agenda of the day.
Friday’s decision goes on to cement the long-held tradition within the state Congress that it prefers consensus over elections. If a poll is held, it could have been a disaster for the party unity, some political observers said.With the state Congress passing the resolution, Sonia will formally ask the state unit to propose names for state president and AICC members. Once done, the new appointments will be announced.The president and members are empowered to vote in the Congress national president elections scheduled for October 17.
It may be recalled that DK Shivakumar was appointed KPCC president after previous chief Dinesh Gundurao quit, owning moral responsibility for the party’s disastrous show in the 2019 parliamentary polls, where Congress managed to win just one out of 28 seats, while BJP managed 25 seats.With roughly a month left for the AICC president election, the KPCC meeting on Friday and the unanimous resolution is but a procedure that needed to be completed. Other Congress state units too need to follow the process within stipulated time. The decision has come at a time when the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has summoned Shivakumar to appear before it in Delhi over corruption charges against him.