JOIN USKarnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G Parameshwara may soon be made a minister in the Siddaramaiah government as his tenure as the State party chief will end by the middle of next year.
A search for a replacement for Parameshwara as KPCC chief could begin soon, sources in the Congress have said.
There is a talk that the Congress high command may narrow down its choices either to a Lingayat or Vokkaliga leader. The party’s central leadership is learnt to have advised Siddaramaiah to induct Parameshwara as a Cabinet minister though the latter was eyeing the deputy chief minister’s post.
It is learnt that the high command has asked Parameshwara to accept a berth in the Cabinet as there was no practice of creating a deputy chief minister’s post in any Congress government that was formed on its own.
The reason for choosing a Lingayat or Vokkaliga as successor to Parameshwara could be linked to the party’s keenness to avoid possible resentment that it is ignoring dominant communities in Karnataka while selecting leaders for the top post.
The party is also worried about the possibility of some Congress leaders joining other parties on the excuse of “too much appeasement” of backward castes by the chief minister, sources said. Fearing that the BJP may use this opportunity and “exploit” the dominant communities, the Congress high command wants to project a Lingayat or Vokkaliga leader in the coming days.
The party has also received feedback about the unhappiness and growing dissidence from leaders of dominant communities in the State unit and wants to strike a balance among different castes and communities, sources said.
As part of a restructure after its poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress started making organisational changes in its state units a couple of weeks ago.