Karnataka Youth Congress workers come to blows at party office, courtesy factional feud

Bengaluru: A brawl broke out among Karnataka Youth Congress workers during a state-level meeting due to factional infighting on Monday.

The bone of contention was Karnataka Youth Congress president HS Manjunatha’s decision to keep “on hold” the position of over a dozen office-bearers citing “inactive participation” in organisational activities. This included his rival Deepika Reddy, the state Youth Congress vice-president.

Trouble began when Deepika and others raised the issue during a meeting chaired by Youth Congress national general secretary Nigam Bhandari at the party’s headquarters here. The meeting was to discuss organising protests against the union government over the NEET paper leak on May 21.

Tempers flared up soon and workers were caught on camera brawling.

“We have proof to show the work we’ve done. When we tried to speak about this, (Bhandari) started to leave. We insisted on seeking answers. I was spoken to rudely,” Reddy said, accusing Manjunatha of taking “unilateral” decisions, “harassing” office-bearers and following a “divide-and-rule” policy.

Manjunatha, however, downplayed the episode. “We have kept some members on hold as they’ve not carried out work that was assigned to them. They wanted to raise this during a meeting meant to discuss NEET. I said their issue will be discussed separately,” he said, adding that Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar would decide on disciplinary action against non-performers.

Manjunatha and Reddy battled each other for the Youth Congress presidency. Manjunatha was elected in February last year, defeating Reddy in an internal poll.