The Congress in Karnataka is staring at a void after its President, Dinesh Gundu Rao resigned from his post. While Gundo Rao resigned saying he was morally responsible for the drubbing in the bye-polls, the resignation has lead to many other Congress leaders queuing up with ambitions to take reins of the party.
The contenders are many, and lobbying heavily for the post is former Minister for Water Resources and Medical Education, Dk Shivakumar. According to sources, DKS is hoping to meet AICC chief Sonia Gandi’s advisor Ahmed Patel and convince him that he is the right candidate to build up the party.
KC Venugopal, the AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, is believed to have recommended DK Shivakumar's name to the high command as well. However, other sources say that the party may be apprehensive of appointing Shivakumar as the next President of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, due to the money laundering case against him, which the Enforcement Directorate is investigating.
Though another name that was under consideration was Siddaramaiah's himself, sources say that the former CM refused the offer given to him.
Party sources say that Gadag MLA HK Patil is also vying for the post of the KPCC President. OF DK Shivakumar's names become untenable, then the next name that Venugopal is likely to pick is that of HK Patil for KPCC President’s post and he would recommend former Deputy Chief Minister, Dr G Parameshwara be appointed as the CLP leader.
“There is also a huge demand for Krishna Byre Gowda to be appointed as the Deputy Leader of Opposition and put MB Patil in charge of the Congress’ Campaign Committee. If Siddaramaiah’s wings are clipped, it will become easy for the BJP to swoop in and start poaching the Kuruba vote bank from the Congress. All these things have to be kept in mind before a decision is made,” the Congress leader said.
Party sources say that KC Venugopal has called for a meeting of all the state Congress leaders on December 16, to discuss the issue before sending a final list of recommendations to the high command.