Karnataka: Anti-Siddaramaiah camp gives truce meeting the slip

BENGALURU: Congress leaders opposed to Legislature Party Leader Siddaramaiah were conspicuous by their absence at a meeting called by AICC general secretary and Karnataka in-charge KC Venugopal to secure a “compromise” between the former chief minister’s camp and “original Congressmen” in the party.

The absence is being perceived as continued opposition to Siddaramaiah being named leader of the opposition. They say he was chosen against the “advice” of senior leaders in the state unit.

Sources say barring Siddaramaiah and his “boys” — MLC Rizwan Arshad, Krishna Byregowda and others — none of the other senior leaders including HK Patil, BK Hariprasad, KH Muniyappa attended the meeting.

“An invitation was extended to all senior leaders in the party, but none barring the Siddaramaiah camp attended,” said a party worker. “It was as if to send a message to Venugopal that all is not well within the party.”

It ‘meeting’ ended on a embarrassing note with Venugopal and Siddaramaiah having to wait for three hours before calling it off.

Asked if there was continued opposition to Siddaramaiah within the party, a livid Byregowda said: “It does not merit a response and the media is free to create its own stories.”

Bypoll meeting inconclusive

Meanwhile, a meeting called by the Congress earlier in the day to decide candidates for the byelections — scheduled for December 5 — remained inconclusive as the state unit debated whether there was room to field BJP rebels on the party ticket.

The meeting, that lasted close to four hours, was held to decide on candidates for six seats in Bengaluru and Chikkaballapura districts. Stakeholders, including former MP and Union minister Veerappa Moily, Byregowda and state Congress president Dinesh Gundurao were present. The meeting was chaired Venugopal and Siddaramaiah.

The leaders penciled in several aspirants for six seats — Shivajinagar, Mahalakshmi Layout, Yeshwantpur, KR Puram, Hoskote and Chikkaballapura — but questions were raised over whether the party will accept nominations of possible BJP rebels. Sources say names of BJP rebels Sharath Bacchegowda (Hoskote) and Nandeesh Reddy (KR Puram) figured prominently.

Besides the two, others in the saffron party have also raised a banner of revolt, mostly over the party’s decision to field disqualified Congress and JD(S) MLAs on BJP tickets. In Kagwad and Hirekerur former legislators Raju Kage and UB Banakar have both said they could jump if the BJP gives tickets to disqualified MLAs Shrimant Patil and BC Patil respectively.

The disqualified MLAs were crucial to the BJP returning to power and chief minister BS Yediyurappa has said he is beholden to give them party tickets. With uncertainty still large, the Congress meeting remained inconclusive and participants decided to leave it to Siddaramaiah to speak to the high command and get clarity. Siddaramaiah is scheduled to meet AICC president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday.

Venugopal expressed confidence over winning all 15 seats to which byelections will be held. He also claimed the Election Commission was being misused and it was silent over the BJP government’s flouting of the model code of conduct, which continues to be in place for the byelections.