Bengaluru: A meeting called by the major irrigation and Kannada and Culture minister DK Shiva Kumar to resolve the Mandya crisis has failed. None of the senior leaders of the party district unit turned up for the meeting leaving DKShi red-faced.
According to the Congress sources, DKShi called the meeting at his official residence on the Cresent road, but except a few old timers like Athmananda, Mallajamma, none of the other leaders including party heavyweights Cheluvaraya Swamy, Narendra Swamy, Ramesh Bandisiddegowda, KB Chandrasekar, Ganiga Ravi and others turned up for the meeting.
Later speaking to the reporters, DKShi made it clear that it was not an official party meeting. “I wanted to talk to the Congress leaders. So I had called the meeting. Leaders were busy as it was a Sunday,” he said.
Meanwhile, DKShi objected to the statement of PWD minister HD Revanna against Sumalatha. “We should not hurt anybody,” he said.
The meeting called by DKShi was important for the coalition government because the party national leadership had vested the responsibility of solving the Mandya crisis to him. The JDS is fielding Deve Gowda’s grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy in Mandya and the party has now realised that the Mandya voters have a strong bond with Sumalatha Ambareesh, who is all set to contest the poll as an independent candidate. Fearing defeat of Nikhil, the third generation entrant into political from the Deve Gowda family, the Congress (coalition partner of the JDS in Karnataka) is said to have told DKShi to convene a meeting of top Congress leaders in Mandya and make sure that they do not stand by Sumalatha.
The plan seems to have backfired, say sources.
