Confusion on new KPCC chief to clear by month end: Venugopal

K C Venugopal, AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka, on Wednesday said the party high command would clear all confusion on appointing a new KPCC president by this month end.

“There is some confusion in the media about the appointment of a new state party president. All confusion will be cleared soon,” he said. He was speaking to reporters after chairing the KPCC coordination committee meeting.

Venugopal, who held one-on-one meetings with over 400 party leaders in the past three days, refused to say whether the party would allow G Parameshwara to continue in the post or not. The party will take a decision based on the feedback by the AICC general secretary.

Earlier in the day, he held separate meetings with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Parameshwara and KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao to seek their suggestions on organisational issues, including appointing the new state president.

Parameshwara is understood to have said that he should be allowed to continue in the post, while Siddaramaiah is learnt to have recommended replacing Parameshwara with a Lingayat leader. A section of party leaders, including many MLAs, has proposed the name of Mallikarjuna Kharge, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, for the post.Venugopal admitted there were differences among leaders in the state unit, but expressed confidence that everything would be sorted out soon. “Parameshwara is doing well as KPCC president. But we have to strengthen the organisation at all levels. Hence, we will be revamping the organisational structure wherever necessary,” he said.

The general secretary heaped praises on the party government headed by Siddaramaiah and said popular programmes introduced by the chief minister would help the party retain power in the 2018 polls. “Performance of the government in the past four years is excellent. There are no differences of opinion in this regard. A number of popular programmes like Anna Bhagya and Ksheera Bhagya have been introduced. All this shows the government is pro-people,” Venugopal said.

He said the BJP’s hopes of coming to power in Karnataka will not be fulfilled. The party will not succeeded in its agenda to divide people, at least in Karnataka. People in Karnataka believe in social justice, good governance and development, Venugopal said.

Vishwanath issue
He refused to react on complaints against the chief minister by some party leaders, including former Mysuru MP A H Vishwanath, who is not happy with Siddaramaiah’s style of functioning.

Siddaramaiah, too, sought to downplay the Vishwanath issue and claimed the former MP would not quit the Congress. He said Srinivas Prasad and S M Krishna left the party for personal reasons.

Siddaramaiah became upset when asked to comment on senior leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s statement, accusing him of being anti-Lingayat. “You (media) have not understood his statement properly,” the chief minister said.