By V.S. Karnic,
By IANS,
Bangalore: The Congress in Karnataka is in an unenviable state – bright prospects to recapture power in the assembly polls due in a few months but a distinct possibility of the continuing disunity pipping it to the post.
The state Congress general body has drawn up grand plans – the party would finalize the candidates without any need for a ticket aspirant to rush to New Delhi for party high command help, announce the contestants’ names at least a month ahead of the polls, extensively tour all 224 assembly constituencies and fight the elections under a collective leadership.
The state assembly has 225 members, 224 elected and one nominated to represent the Anglo-Indian community. Polls are due in May next but might be held this year-end.
The Congress general body met in Bangalore Wednesday to approve the strategy for the coming polls. The meeting was also to serve as a platform for a unity show among leaders to reassure party members and supporters as it was held against the backdrop of concerted efforts by a section in the party to remove state Congress chief G. Parameshwara.
Parameshwara is acknowledged by various factions in the state unit as a “decent person without any corruption stigma”. He is faulted for not taking various sections in the party along and not dynamic enough to enthuse the party workers and supporters to ensure its victory in the polls.
He was also under fire ahead of the general body meet for sending a notice to party veteran and treasurer Shamanur Shivashankarappa for not attending party meetings and telling him that if he is not able to do so, alternative arrangements would have to be made.
While the 80-year-old Shivashankarappa, who has been party treasurer for more than 10 years now, maintained silence on the letter, his supporters kicked up a row. The letter was seen as an attempt by Parameshwara to show Shivashankarappa in bad light because he has been lobbying to be made state party chief.
To prevent the issue from getting out of control, Parameshwara asserted that the letter was not a notice but a routine one that state party chiefs write to office-bearers who do not attend meetings.
As is the practice among the political class, he said Shivashankarappa was like his elder brother and he was sorry if the letter had hurt the party veteran.
Shivashankarappa had met Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi a few months ago seeking that he be made state Congress chief. Over 20 of his supporters were also in the national capital early this month planning to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi with the same objective. Gandhi declined to meet them as that would send a wrong signal because the lobbying for a change in the state leadership was being done on caste basis. Parameshwara is a Dalit and Shivashankarappa is a Lingayat, a dominant caste group.
The disunity was on display at the general body meet. Shivashankarappa and his supporters came after the meeting had started and left early. Though the meet was to approve the poll strategy, party general secretary in charge of Karnataka Madhusudan Mistry too did not attend.
With the party unit in such a poor state, it might well become a case of grand plans with little achievement.