BENGALURU: Even as All-India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge has clarified that the party high command has not taken any decision on change in leadership in Karnataka, the Siddaramaiah camp is continuing its efforts to project the state’s Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara as the next CM.
Senior Congress MLC BK Hariprasad, a permanent invitee of the Congress Working Committee and who is said to be close to Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi, seems to have entered the scene.
After meeting Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday evening, Hariprasad held separate confabulations with Parameshwara and asked the latter to be ready to throw his hat into the ring for the CM’s post if the party top brass decides to change the leadership, sources told The New Sunday Express.
Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan, another close confidant of Siddaramaiah, was also present in the meeting that lasted over 90 minutes. They chalked out a plan to pitch Parameshwara for the top post under the Dalit quota if the option of making Kharge CM and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar staking claim is ruled out.
Hariprasad has information that Kharge is hesitating to take up the Chief Minister post for various reasons, sources said.
Parameshwara, however, on Saturday said that the discussion among the trio revolved around the outcome of the West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu Assembly polls with a little bit of Karnataka politics.
“We had a good meal together. Naturally, since we are politicians, we had to discuss politics. There is nothing to hide. Since election results will be declared on Monday, we analysed the situation. We discussed what is happening in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and the status of our party there. We did not discuss state politics much,” he told reporters.
On internal quota for SCs, he said the entire political dynamics has changed in Karnataka and Congress is assessing how things pan out.
“For the past 25 years, we have adhered to a specific ideology. Initially, the Congress included all major, minor, and backward communities. But when the Ahinda movement began, the entire dynamics changed. We are seeing developments regarding internal reservations for SC communities and adjustments in ST percentages. Many things are currently unfolding in Karnataka, and we will see what happens next,” he added.