Don't unsettle govt: Rahul to Siddaramaiah

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has asked former chief minister Siddaramaiah not to destabilise the Congress-JD(S) coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy in the state.

Rahul is learnt to have also told Siddaramaiah that though he can hold meetings with ministers and MLAs, it should not give an impression that he is trying to encourage dissident activities.

Siddaramaiah, who was here to recently attend the Congress Working Committee meeting, was also told to extend full co-operation for the smooth functioning of the government.

The Congress top leadership’s instructions to Siddaramaiah gains significance as the former chief minister had openly expressed unhappiness over the functioning of the coalition government. His back-to-back dinner meetings with ministers and close confidants also triggered speculation of possible dissident activities.

The party national president also instructed Siddaramaiah, who is the chairman of the co-ordination committee, that any issues with the government should be resolved amicably through talks and not by going to the media. A similar message was given to newly appointed Pradesh Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao and working president Eshwar Khandre, a senior leader in the party told DH.

Rahul also recently told some prominent state leaders that the onus on running the coalition government is on the Congress “since we gave unconditional support”.

Since this decision was taken at the highest level of the party to prevent the BJP from forming the government, nobody in the state unit should question this or disrupt this move, said a senior leader.

The Congress high command had received some complaints from the state leadership that Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy was not heeding the Congress leaders’ advice be it in the allocation of funds or transfer of officials.