AICC forms coordination panel in Karnataka, Shivakumar in

AICC today constituted the much-awaited coordination committee in party-ruled Karnataka, four and half months after the landslide victory ousting the BJP from power.

In a surprise, Congress has included sulking senior party leader D K Shivakumar in the panel. Shivakumar had not been included in the cabinet, ostensibly due to allegations of corruption against him.

But it seems he has got into the good books again after he played a key role in the victory of party candidate D K Suresh who is his brother, in Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha constituency by a huge margin in the recent bypolls.

Suresh defeated Anita, wife of JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

Besides Shivakumar, members of the coordination committee are: General Secretary in-charge (Digvijay Singh), PCC President (G Parameshwara), CLP leader (Chief Minister Siddaramaiah), AICC Secretary in-charge (A Chella Kumar and Shantaram Naik) and K J George (Home Minister), according to an AICC press release circulated by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee.

Congress sources said the committee was aimed at better coordination between the party and the government.

A section of Congress saw the move as one aimed at clipping the wings of Siddaramaiah, while the Chief Minister's camp sought to downplay it noting that such panels exist in party-ruled governments elsewhere.