Hectic parleys among top Cong leaders helped break logjam over Karnataka CM pick

Press Trust of India  

New Delhi: Several top Congress leaders from party chief Mallikarjun Kharge to former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were involved in hectic parleys with Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar which finally helped to break the logjam over the top post in Karnataka Ever since the Karnataka Assembly results were declared on May 13, both the leaders started garnering support of MLAs close to them while mustering support for themselves.

The supporters of both, meanwhile, started building up the momentum in support of their respective leader and a poster war erupted. As the race for the top post heated up, Kharge appointed three observers -- Sushilkumar Shinde, Jitendra Singh and Deepak Babaria -- and the first meeting of the Congress Legislature Party was convened on May 14.

Supporters of both the leaders continued to raise the pitch by raising slogans in support of their leaders outside the CLP meeting venue. All Congress MLAs authorised the party chief to appoint a leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), who would also be the new chief minister. Keeping the consultation process alive, the newlyelected MLAs had authorised Kharge to appoint the new CLP leader, after which the scene shifted from Bengaluru to Delhi.

The observers also held one-on-one consultations with all MLAs and sought a secret ballot from all of them, the results of which were tabulated and shared with party chief the next day. In the national capital, the three observers along with party general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal and AICC general secretary in-charge Randeep Surjewala arrived and held a meeting with Kharge.

With Siddaramaiah emerging as the frontrunner in the race and after the report of observers, the party leadership asked him and Shivakumar to arrive in Delhi for further consultations. While Siddaramaih arrived on Monday evening, Shivakumar cancelled the meeting citing health issues. This complicated the situation for the party as it hardened its stand against Shivakumar, who arrived the next day.

Tuesday saw the entry of Rahul Gandhi in the consultation process, who drove down to Kharge’s residence and held a meeting on the Karnataka government formation for over an hour-anda-half. A series of fresh consultations started once again with Kharge meeting both of them separately, as also with the two general secretaries on Tuesday