As part of efforts to strengthen itself ahead of the Assembly elections next year, the Congress in Kalyana Karnataka is going to focus on bringing back leaders and cadres who defected to other parties.
Addressing a press conference at Aiwan-e-Shahi Guest House in Kalaburagi on Saturday, Tippannappa Kamaknur and Sharankumar Modi, vice-president and general secretary of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), said that they would themselves approach the residences of the leaders who had deserted the party and convince them to return.
“There are many honest leaders who deserted the Congress and joined other parties. The Congress has already opened its doors for them if they want to return. However, we would ourselves would go to them and persuade them to come back to the party. We are going to plan a special tour in Kalyana Karnataka region for the purpose,” Mr. Kamaknur said.
Expressing discontentment over the widening communal divide and resultant cases of communal disturbance in Karnataka, Mr. Kamaknur said that the Congress would hold a massive people’s conference in Kalaburagi involving people and leaders from all the communities to uphold the region’s tradition of peaceful coexistence of different communities and send a message of communal harmony.
“Kalyana Karnataka remained peaceful and upheld the tradition of peaceful coexistence of different communities when the rest of the State reported some incidents of communal disturbance. It is the land of saints Sharanabasaveshwara and Khaja Bande Nawaz. There are efforts from the right-wing forces to tear the harmonious social fabric and divide society along communal lines. To check such efforts of ill-intention, we are planning to hold a massive harmony conference next month in Kalaburagi,” Mr. Kamaknur said.
When asked whether the event would be held under Congress banner, Mr. Kamaknur said that idea was still at a basic stage and the final decision on involving other secular forces would be taken shortly.
“Whether the harmony conference should be held under Congress banner or form a conglomerate of different secular organisations and individuals for the purpose is yet to be decided. The date and the banner would shortly be decided. Religious institutions and community leaders from different religions would participate in the event. Hundreds of secular maths would involve in the conference,” Mr. Kamaknur.
When asked, the Congress leader said those mutts and seers who had openly aligned with BJP and other right-wing organisations and played active role in disturbing the communal harmony in the society would be kept at bay.
Party leaders’ Neelakanta Mulge, Bhimanna Sali, Shyam Natikar and others were present.
