The Day Two of the Congress’ State-level delegates’ meeting at the Palace Grounds on Sunday had its share of embarrassing moments for the party.

Former union minister M V Rajashekaran was heckled by a section of the delegates when he sought that KPCC president G Parameshwara be made the deputy chief minister.

Congress leader P Ramesh, a close aide of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, is said to have told Rajashekaran to refrain from lobbying for any individual and speak on strengthening the party.

Intervention

When Rajashekaran continued his speech, he was heckled by a section of the delegates. Parameshwara intervened and stated that there was no need for anybody to take up his case. 

In another incident, former MP and minister H Vishwanath is said to have told the meeting that AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi was not an influential leader and did not have the calibre to bring the party back to power at the Centre.

However, Priyanka Gandhi had the ability and the party should seek her leadership.
 
‘Personal opinion’

Vishwanath’s remark prompted Siddaramaiah to tell Digvijay Singh, the AICC general secretary in charge of party affairs in Karnataka not to take it seriously. “It is his personal opinion,” he stated.

The struggle for oneupmanship between Siddaramaiah and Parameshwara came to the fore in another incident.

The State’s representative in New Delhi and MLC C M Ibrahim, another close aide of Siddaramaiah, during his speech said Parameshwara should continue as KPCC chief and not aspire for a Cabinet berth.