Jolted by SMK's move, Cong wants to talk it out

Surprised by senior leader S M Krishna’s decision to retire from active politics, the Congress high command has swung into action and directed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Karnataka unit chief G Parameshwara to get in touch with him.

“I have asked the chief minister and the state Congress president to get in touch with Krishna,” Digvijaya Singh, Congress general secretary in charge of the party’s affairs in Karnataka, told DH.

Singh said he had unsuccessfully tried to reach out to Krishna and maintained that he got the news through the media. In response to a query, however, he said he didn’t know if Krishna had met Congress president Sonia Gandhi recently. Another Congress leader in Delhi said, “It’s unfortunate. We are totally surprised by the announcement.”

Krishna was not invited to any meeting to plan the party’s strategy against the NDA government. He was conspicuously absent from the Jana Vedana Sammelana that was attended by Congress leaders from across the country to protest demonetisation.