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Bengaluru/New Delhi: Congress leader and former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah had, on Tuesday, January 14, travelled to Delhi to meet with AICC interim-president Sonia Gandhi to discuss who will be the next KPCC president.
During the meeting, Gandhi reportedly directed him to continue as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP). She also asked to meet with former AICC chief Rahul Gandhi, to discuss the political environment in Karnataka, before leaving Delhi.
As per reports, she also asked the former chief minister to organise the party and fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
While he was in Delhi, Siddaramaiah also reportedly met with party Karnataka in-charge K C Venugopal to discuss political developments in the state.
It can be recalled that Siddaramaiah had tendered his resignation to the post of CLP leader after the Karnataka Congress’ poor performance in the recently concluded Assembly by-polls, where they managed to secure only two out of the 15 constituencies, while the BJP managed to bag 13.
KPCC president Dinesh Gundu Rao had also tendered his resignation, which is why the party has been scrambling to find a suitable replacement. Several leaders have also thrown their hats in the ring, however, MLA D K Shivakumar and former minister M B Patil are the front-runners in the race to become KPCC chief. The party has been split into factions, each supporting their preferred candidate. Patil is a close aide of Siddaramaiah and reports suggest that the latter went to Delhi to lobby the former’s name for the post.
