Settling differences, prep for Lok Sabha polls on agenda at Karnataka Congress leaders’ Delhi meeting

The central leadership of the party apparently chairing the meetings with state party leaders to quell the dissidence brewing for some time now, top party sources told South First.

Of the two meetings, one is with ministers that was supposed to take place in June in Delhi, but was postponed due to various reasons.

A total of 19 Cabinet ministers have been invited by the central leadership for the meeting.

However, many senior legislators said that they have not received any invitation from the high command to take part in the meeting.

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Talks on parliament elections: DyCM  

Amidst speculation that the high command has called a meeting to resolve the issues brewing among the cadre in the state, DyCM Shivakumar asserted the meeting was about Lok Sabha elections next year.

After the landslide victory in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly polls, the party is now eyeing to put up a similar show in next year’s parliament elections in the state.

Shivakumar told reporters in Bengaluru: “The responsibility of the general elections has to be entrusted to the respective district in-charge ministers and a few senior leaders.”

“The talks will also be made on candidatures for all the constituencies and how to finalise the nominees. We need to begin preparations from now for the Lok Sabha elections. We have already engaged in party organisation,” detailed the deputy chief minister.

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He further said: “We are already working towards implementing the poll guarantees. The government, party and legislators need to work to implement them properly.”

“The party needs to work together. To guide and give us suggestions, our leaders have invited us. There are two to three meetings, we will attend and return to the state,” added Shivakumar.

Among the 19 Cabinet ministers invited to Delhi are MB Patil, Priyank Kharge, Madhu Bangarappa, Shivananda Patil, and SS Mallikarjun.

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CM promised to resolve issues: MLAs

After the CLP meeting, which was held on 27 July, many legislators seemed satisfied with the outcome and said there was no need to approach the high command on the state-level matters.

Congress’ Aland MLA BR Patil, who wrote a letter to the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to chair a CLP meeting, told South First: “It is true that I threatened to resign, if my self-respect is hurt in the CLP meeting. I expressed all my grievances before the chief minister, who is also the CLP leader, in the meeting.”

“He has responded positively and assured of addressing and resolving all the issues pertaining to grants, transfers, and development works. There is no need to escalate the matter to the high command,” added Patil.

Bailhongal MLA Mahantesh Koujalagi, one of the legislators who signed the letter by BR Patil, told South First: “We have not received any invitation from the high command to take part in the Delhi meeting.”

“There is also no necessity to raise the matter before the high command as the CLP leader has promised to address all the issues raised by MLAs. He also directed all ministers to cooperate with the legislators,” added Koujalagi.

It may be recalled that Patil had written a letter, which around 32 MLAs had signed, to the chief minister, reportedly complaining about ministers not responding to their letters related to development works.

Responding to the letter, Siddaramaiah had called for a CLP meeting. He listened to the grievances of the legislators and assured them their concerns would be addressed.

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Senior leaders overlook ‘ignorance’ of new MLAs

After a first-time MLA, Basavaraju V Shivaganga, wrote a letter the chief minister seeking to be appointed as a personal secretary or Officer on Special Duty (OSD) of any minister, several senior MLAs opined that many new MLAs did not know about the rules governing legislators.

Senior Congress MLA Basavaraj Rayareddy told South First: “In our party there are many first-time MLAs in this tenure. Many of them do not have any idea about rules and regulations of an MLA.”

“The chief minister and several senior ministers discussed this in the CLP meeting. We were surprised to see a letter written by a first-time MLA to consider him for appointment as personal secretary and OSD of any minister.”

“There are certain procedures for an MLA to follow to get his work done by a minister. We educated them about these procedures. The new MLAs will learn gradually,” added Rayreddy.

A senior minister, while admitting to South First that many first-time MLAs were unaware of procedure, added that, at the same time, some senior MLAs were holding grudges over personal differences, leading to tensions ahead of the CLP meeting.