NEW DELHI:
With deliberations continuing on the next Karnataka Chief Minister, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal arrived at the 10 Janpath residence of party MP and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi here in the national capital to hold discussions. Besides this, Karnataka Congress working president Eshwar Khandare and other MLAs arrived at the party president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in the national capital for meetings in connection with picking the next chief minister of the State.
According to party sources the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, a former CM and leader of Opposition, the two main contenders for the chief minister’s post will meet with Rahul Gandhi at 10 Janpath. According to sources, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will take the final decision after consulting Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kharge held meetings with Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah who both are in the national capital New Delhi. Siddaramaiah arrived at Kharge’s residence yesterday accompanied by his son Yatindra, MLAs Zameer Ahmad, Bhyrati Suresh, and senior leader KJ George.
The Congress had emerged as the single largest party in Karnataka after winning the May 10 assembly election. It won 135 seats in 224-member Karnataka assembly. Despite Congress’ clear mandate in the Karnataka assembly polls, suspense over the chief minister continues as senior leaders DK Shivakumar, who is the Karnataka Congress’ president, and Siddaramaiah, former chief minister and leader of the opposition are in the race.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday met with party president Mallikarjun Kharge who is set to make his decision after going through the report submitted by Congress central observers’ report. Shivakumar who had previously cancelled his visit to the national capital on Monday evening citing health issues, arrived in Delhi on Tuesday.
Earlier yesterday, Shivakumar, in an exclusive interview with ANI made it clear that he would not resort to “backstabbing or blackmail” regardless of the party’s decision. “If the party wants they can give me the responsibility……. Ours is a united house, our number is 135. I don’t want to divide anyone here. Whether they like me or not, I am a responsible man. I will not backstab and I will not blackmail,” he said.
“The Party is my god…We have built this party, I am a part of it and I am not alone in this,” he said before his departure from Bengaluru. “We have built this party (Congress), we have built this house. I am a part of it…A mother will give everything to her child,” he said.
Asked about his expectations as the state party president, Shivakumar said,” I don’t want to comment on what has happened earlier. How it happened. That is a closed chapter we formed the government we lost the government, we lost a coalition government. Who is responsible for the victory and loss there is no use of talking about it now. Let us not sell this story… let us sell the future.” (ANI)
