Differences between Congress leaders on who should be the Chief Minister if the party comes to power in the 2023 State Legislative Assembly elections continued with KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar calling upon party members to “first work to bring the party to power.”
Reacting to party MLA B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan’s remark that people of the State wanted Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah to be the next Chief Minister, Mr. Shivakumar asked all party leaders to “keep their mouths shut and work to bring the party to power.” He said he was issuing the direction not only to Mr. Khan. “I am telling this to everyone,” he said.
Mr. Shivakumar told his partymen, “Stop worshipping individuals and bring more people to the party. The organisation is bigger than individual ambition.” He was apparently referring to Mr. Siddaramaiah and his loyalists, who have decided to hold a birthday event on August 3.
On KPCC campaign committee chairman M.B. Patil’s aspirations to become the Chief Minister, Mr. Shivakumar said, “There is nothing wrong if all 224 elected MLAs desire to become the CM.”
In response to Mr. Shivakumar’s statements on him, Mr. Khan told reporters that it was the KPCC chief who commenced the debate in the party by seeking support for himself in a public forum. In a couple of recent functions in the Old Mysore region, Mr. Shivakumar appealed to the Vokkaliga community to which he belongs to extend their support for him to become the Chief Minister as they had supported H.D. Deve Gowda, H.D. Kumaraswamy and S.M. Krishna to become the Chief Minister.
He, however, said that the party high command would take the final decision. “I gave my personal opinion. What’s wrong in telling my opinion?” Mr. Khan asserted.
Meanwhile, KPCC disciplinary committee chairperson K. Rahman Khan said the committee would serve notices to leaders who violate the party’s discipline and work against the party’s interest.
