BENGALURU: With the DK Shivakumar camp going all out to project him as the only leader who deserve to succeed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, a section of senior Dalit leaders are reportedly upset with the AICC president Mallikarjuna Kharge.
Home Minister Dr. G Parameshwara and Food and Civil Supplies Minister K H Muniyappa had met Kharge urging him to take over as CM. But the decision has to be taken by Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chief Sonia Gandhi and LoP in LS Rahul Gandhi.
Kharge’s term in Rajya Sabha ends in June and if the party re-nominates him he will continue in national politics. But it is to be seen whether he will remain as AICC president, a senior Congress leader said.
Veteran Dalit leader Damodaram Sanjeevayya became the second CM of Andhra Pradesh (between 1969-62) while remaining as AICC president. Now, Kharge has an opportunity to achieve that feat, the leaders had suggested to Kharge.
“We welcome Kharge as CM or else he should consider a Dalit for the top post to create history. Otherwise, history will curse him for throwing an opportunity despite being at the helm of affairs of the Congress,” a senior leader told TNIE.
Dalit legislators including Hubli-Dharwad East MLA Abbayya Prasad and Bangarapet MLA S N Narayanaswamy said Parameshwara should be the CM as he had contributed to the party’s organisation as KPCC president for eight years.
Parameshwara, a Dalit leader himself, has thrown his hat into the leadership ring and said no one can question his competence to be the CM.