BENGALURU: Rumblings over the change in chief minister’s post continued to prevail within the ruling Congress as a group of 11 legislators from the CM Siddaramaiah camp left on a foreign trip, even as followers of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar demanded that the high command clear the air on leadership change.
It is said that CM’s supporters had chalked out a plan to send over 25 legislators on the trip to counter the DCM camp which was escalating the issue and demanding that the high command intervene.
MLAs Puttarangashetty, Devendrappa, HD Thammaiah, BM Nagaraj, Yashawantrayagouda Patil, Hampanagouda Badarli and MLCs Dr D Thimmaiah, Sharanagouda Bayyapur, Vasanth Kumar and Nagaraj Yadav left for an Australia-New Zealand trip on Tuesday. They are likely to return on March 3. Some of these legislators have identified themselves with both CM and DCM camps, a Congress leader said.
It is alleged that the trip is to divert the attention of the leaders as the Shivakumar camp was harping on changing the chief minister. The trip was the initiative of CM’s supporters, especially Animal Husbandry and Sericulture Minister K Venkatesh.
The grapevine also has it that some other CM’s supporters too sponsored the trip and tried in vain to lure some more MLAs. AICC General Secretary, Karnataka in-charge, Randeep Singh Surjewala had called all those planning to go on the trip and sought clarification. After the call, some legislators backed out.
After the budget session gets over, the party high command is likely to call both the CM and DCM to Delhi to discuss the power sharing agreement, sources said.
Shivakumar’s supporter and Mandya MLA Ganiga Ravi on Wednesday demanded that the high command clear the air on the power sharing agreement. “Statements issued by the MLAs have been damaging the party and government,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kunigal MLA and Shivakumar’s brother-in-law Dr Ranganath reiterated that Siddaramaiah will keep his word on power sharing agreement. “The CM is not one to betray his word. We are confident that he will answer at an appropriate time if there is an agreement on power sharing,” he said.