The general body meeting (GBM) called by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Monday signalled senior ministers in the Siddaramaiah government to be ready to sacrifice their posts after 30 months to pave the way for a young generation of leaders.
Senior leader and Food and Civil Supplies Minister K.H. Muniyappa set the tone for the meeting by asking senior Ministers, including himself, to step down from their offices after 30 months for accommodating new faces who worked for the party’s electoral victory in the 2023 Assembly polls.
Signs of Cabinet reshuffle
KPCC president and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who endorsed Mr. Muniyappa’s statement, has indicated Cabinet reshuffle in the coming days.
The GBM, conducted to prepare the party’s strategies in the coming elections to the rural and urban local bodies, BBMP and the Lok Sabha elections, told Ministers and senior leaders to be prepared to share power with the new generation of leaders by voluntarily relieving their posts. Candidates for the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister’s posts would be decided by the party high command, but senior Ministers should quit after 30 months in office to provide space for young legislators, he said.
In his speech, Mr. Muniyappa said many party leaders at the district level worked for the victory of the party and seniors and Ministers in the government develop willingness to sacrifice their posts for accommodating them.
Mr. Shivakumar said chiefs to the government-owned boards and corporations would be appointed for 30 months. All those chiefs appointed now will have to relinquish their posts after 30 months for another round of appointment to new faces, he said.
For Lok Sabha polls
Speaking after inaugurating the GBM, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah spoke at length on various issues and told the party cadre not to relax till the next year’s elections. He had assured the party high command of giving 20 MPs from Karnataka. “According to me, the BJP will be defeated 100% in the 2024 general elections,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
Noting that the party had secured 42.8% votes in the 2023 Assembly polls, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the electorate rejected the BJP for unemployment, inflation and bad governance.
The BJP leaders banked on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership to win Assembly elections. But all calculations of the BJP went wrong in the Assembly polls. He also criticised the “double engine” government slogan of the BJP and said the BJP in Karnataka made the State bankrupt.
“If the Constitution is changed, more than 90% of the country’s working classes’ living opportunities will be destroyed. Therefore, the people of the country have a very big responsibility to save the Constitution and protect the opportunities of the working classes of the country. Congress has been given this responsibility by the working classes of the State and the country,” he said.
On guarantee schemes
The BJP has cheated the people of the State by not giving tax and economic assistance to our State, he said. “But, we have designed guarantee schemes in such a way that there is money in people’s pockets. We have presented a budget that will increase the purchasing power of the people. All the States of the country have come forward to study and adopt this development of Karnataka model,” he said.
He argued that former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy had forgotten his party. “Mr. Kumaraswamy is acting like he is the BJP spokesperson. The JD (S) leader just flashes the empty pen drive out of the pocket and keeps it back,” the Chief Minister mocked.
