JOIN USThe Congress party, after realising the blunder it committed by not ensuring the victory of Iqbal Ahmed Saradagi in the Legislative Council elections, on Saturday tendered an apology to the minority communities.
The defeat of Saradagi was discussed at length at the co-ordination committee meeting held at the Congress Bhavan in Bangalore.
Briefing the media after the meeting, KPCC president G Parameshwara said the party had taken cognisance of his defeat.
“The party apologises to the minority communities for this loss,” he said. He was flanked by Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah, Council floor leader S R Patil and AICC secretary Hanumantha Rao.
The committee, constituted by the party, has held AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistry, Parameshwara and Siddaramaiah responsible for Saradagi’s defeat.
To a question by a reporter whether the leaders owned moral responsibility for the defeat, Siddaramaiah said: “There is no question of us taking moral responsibility. The committee has held that there was no coordination between the three of us.
I’d like to say that the coordination is there. But, since we don’t know whether the report has been accepted or not, we wouldn’t want to comment on this further,” said Siddaramaiah.
No leadership change
Despite the leadership being questioned in the State, Hanumantha Rao said Mistry had made it clear in the meeting that there would be no change of guard. Neither Siddaramaiah nor Parameshwara would be changed.
The party would face the next Assembly elections under the joint leadership of these leaders, he said.
Parameshwara, replying to a question, said that the party would have no truck with the Janata Dal (Secular) in the next elections. The Congress will consolidate its traditional secular vote base, he said.