Five working presidents appointed to KPCC

Bengaluru: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress on Saturday appointed five new working presidents to the Karnataka state unit. 

Former minister Tanveer Sait, Rajya Sabha member G C Chandrashekhar, former minister Vinay Kulkarni, MLC Manjunath Bhandary and Vasanth Kumar have been appointed as the working presidents, a statement from AICC said. 

The party has maintained caste and regional balance while appointing new faces. 

Sait is a Muslim leader from Mysuru. Chandrashekar is a Vokkaliga and Vinay Kulkarni is a Veerashaiva Lingayat belonging to the Panchamasali sect from Dharwad. 

Vasantha Kumar, former Raichur district Congress chief, is a Dalit leader. Bhandary is a Bunt community leader representing Coastal Karnataka. Both Vasantha Kumar and Bhandary are loyalists of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge. 

Currently, there are five working presidents — Ramalinga Reddy, Satish Jarkiholi and Eshwar Khandre (Ministers), Salim Ahmed, MLC, and B N Chandrappa.

The party has been working to appoint new working presidents by replacing incumbents, especially those serving as ministers in the government. 

Campaign committee 

The Congress top brass has appointed former minister Vinay Kumar Sorake as Campaign Committee chairman. 

Sorake, an Ediga Community leader from Dakshina Kannada, was lobbying for the post of the State Congress Working President. He was also trying for a Lok Sabha ticket from the Dakshina Kannada segment. However, the party gave a ticket to Padmaraj, a loyalist of former Union minister B Janardhana Poojary. 

Former Rajya Sabha member L Hanumanthaiah has been appointed as a co-chairman of the campaign committee. He was trying for a Lok Sabha ticket from Kolar. The party is yet to announce the candidate for Kolar. Since he was appointed as the co-chairman, the chances of him getting a ticket for the Lok Sabha elections are bleak. 

Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad has also been appointed as a co-chairman of the Campaign Committee.