BENGALURU: The state is all set to witness 71-year-old Congress thoroughbred Bengaluru Kempaiah Hariprasad taking charge as new president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) at Palace Grounds on Sunday.
He was a Congress Working Committee permanent invitee and Haryana state in-charge before being elevated to the post. A four-time Rajya Sabha member and two-time MLC, he is a staunch loyalist of the Nehru-Gandhi family, who has worked closely with Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Kodandarama Nagara -- close to Malleswaram, where Hariprasad was born and brought up, wore a festive look with residents, especially women, welcoming him with traditional aarti during his padayatra on Saturday.
CM DK Shivakumar, who was KPCC president, will hand over the party flag officially to Hariprasad at 11 am. Hariprasad was among the five party candidates elected in the recent MLC polls, helping the party achieve the majority mark of 39 in a 75-member House.
That victory has apparently energised the party’s rank and file. They will now pin their hopes on the Hariprasad-Shivakumar combination to work their magic to get the party reelected in the 2028 Assembly polls. Soon after Siddaramaiah passed the CM baton to Shivakumar, the party high command picked Hariprasad, who hails from the Ediga community, in a backward classes outreach.
The Sunday rally, where Siddaramaiah too will be felicitated, will be attended by over one lakh people, said former Bengaluru Rural MP DK Suresh, Shivakumar’s younger brother. AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, AICC General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal and state in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala are expected to attend.
KPCC working president and Rajya Sabha member GC Chandrashekhar requested party workers not to hold up traffic in view of the NEET retest. Around 350 dignitaries will be on the main stage, while 200 others on the other one. Party workers will be ferried in 1,200 buses.
Resolution to make Rahul PM
The congregation will pass a resolution to make leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi the prime minister in 2029 and also to bring the party to power in the state in 2028. “This is not just a power transfer programme. It is a party organisation ceremony, a ceremony for the future.
This will be a platform to take a big decision. The next two years are election years,” said GC Chandrashekar.
