Siddu's fate to be decided after CWC meet

Leaders from Karnataka are mounting pressure to act against the state leadership

Amid pressure from certain quarters to hold the state leadership responsible for the Lok Sabha poll debacle in Karnataka, Congress top brass appears in no hurry to take drastic action. 

Though it feels that factional fight and failure to communicate the government’s popular programmes to voters were the primary reasons for the setback, a decision on state leaders will be taken only after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting. 

After an analysis of the Karnataka results, the party top brass is learnt to have concluded that poor poll management and internal sabotage by some local leaders and MLAs ruined party candidates in several constituencies, mainly Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Dakshina Kannada, Belgaum, Dharwad, Haveri, Mysore and Mandya.

The party did expect setbacks in many states, but it had hoped for better results in Karnataka and Kerala, where it is ruling. 

“Though the party is satisfied with the Kerala results, the outcome in Karnataka is shocking as it was able to get only nine seats against the expected minimum 22 seats,” sources told Deccan Herald.

With both Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Pradesh Congress Committee president G Parameshwara promising to deliver 22 seats by continuing stellar performance of last year Assembly poll, the high command had given free hand to them in the selection of candidates or making poll strategy, sources added.

Now, with the party failing to cross the single digit line, a section of leaders from Karnataka is mounting pressure on the high command to act against the state leadership. 

Though Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara on Saturday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and tried to present their views, it is said that the Central leaders would take a call on their fate only after Congress Working Committee meeting, scheduled on Monday.

At the CWC meeting, the party is likely to discuss its performance analysis report in Karnataka, prepared by the state in-charge general secretary Digvijay Singh. 

Indeed, the high command received umpteen number of complaints against state leaders from workers and MLAs, alleging that the party had paid the price for lack of coordination and differences among senior leaders and ignoring party workers.

Some complaints were also learned to be of the nature that the Siddaramaiah-led government only focussed on backward class and minorities by ignoring other sections of the society.