BackCongress to launch poll campaign for Karnataka’s 2018 assembly elections with incumbent leadership
The development provides some clarity on the state leadership at a time when there have been growing calls for the ouster of CM Siddaramaiah
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Bengaluru: Karnataka’s ruling Congress party will launch its poll campaign for the 2018 assembly elections with the incumbent leadership, according to a decision taken at a Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) meeting in Bengaluru on Thursday.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and state affairs in-charge Digvijay Singh and leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, along with other national and state leaders attended the coordination committee’s brainstorming session.
“There will be no change in leadership," Singh told Mint on the sidelines of the meeting.
Singh’s statement provides some clarity on the state leadership at a time when there have been growing calls for the ouster of chief minister Siddaramaiah.
A cabinet reshuffle in June in which Siddaramaiah sacked 14 ministers including prominent Vokkaliga community face M.H. Ambareesh and Dalit leader V. Srinivas Prasad saw a backlash with many party members attacking the chief minister and calling for his ouster.
Angry supporters of the leaders who were sacked or who missed out on a ministerial berth took to the streets and burned effigies of the chief minister.
Also Read:Karnataka cabinet expansion: One new minister inducted, two elevated
Political analysts said the move to sack 14 ministers—nearly half the cabinet of 32—was a move to split votes that would have traditionally gone to Lingayat community and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader B.S. Yeddyurappa, Mint reported on 21 June.
Analysts said the move was an attempt to consolidate the party’s vote bank beyond the minorities, backward classes and Dalits community ahead of the next elections.
Senior party leaders such as Janardhan Poojary have continued their tirade against Siddaramaiah, accusing him of trying to make Karnataka a ‘Congress free’ state.
Also Read: Mutiny within Congress in Karnataka after cabinet reshuffle
“Are you (Mr Siddaramaiah) trying to make Karnataka a ‘Congress free’ state? (Prime Minister) Mr Narendra Modi has been claiming that he wants to make India a Congress-free nation. Congress is the party that brought independence to the country and toiled for its development. You joined the Congress 6-7 years ago. Do you know the Congress culture? In the next election, people might make the state free of Siddaramaiah," Poojary said on 4 June, according to a Deccan Chronicle report.
Without naming anyone, Singh said the AICC will take cognizance of these statements and the disciplinary committee headed by former defence minister A.K. Antony will take action. “Anyone who has spoken against the Congress party on any forum; if the matter is brought to my notice, we will take appropriate action," he said.
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