<p>Disgruntled MLAs in the ruling Congress have embarked on the “save the party” campaign and are seeking the removal of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The legislators led by former ministers V Srinivas Prasad and M H Ambareesh held a series of meetings throughout Thursday. But the disgruntled camp is not able to muster support required to shake the government or Siddaramaiah. The aggrieved legislators have, however, kept up their efforts to garner the support of like-minded party legislators. <br />Currently, the disgruntled camp has eight MLAs, including Malikayya Guttedar (Afzalpur) and Rajashekar Patil (Humnabad), who identified themselves with the rebel camp on Thursday.<br /><br /> Former chief minister S M Krishna, who spoke to Srinivas Prasad over phone, gave him a patient hearing. <br /><br />Krishna, who is currently in Mumbai, had complained to the high command against Siddaramaiah’s style of functioning a few months ago. <br /><br />Prasad told Deccan Herald that the ouster of Siddaramaiah was inevitable for toning up the party’s image. “The surgery, if any, should have happened there (to the post of Chief Minister). The party can be saved only through the leadership change. The reshuffle was not done properly. Siddaramaiah and Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabha) have conducted the reshuffle in order to fulfil their selfish goals,” he said. <br /><br />Opportunity lost<br /><br />Prasad said there was no dearth of leaders in the Congress to replace Siddaramaiah. The high command should pick a leader keeping the next elections in view. Though Kharge was one of the able candidates to become the chief minister, he has lost an opportunity by making his son Priyank Kharge a minister. <br /><br />He admitted that the disgruntled camp does not have the support of enough legislators to carry on the one-point agenda. <br /><br />“But we are not in a hurry. I am well aware of our limitation. Changes can happen in a week or a fortnight. But it has to happen and it will happen in the interests of the party. All these efforts are for the sake of party,” he stated.<br /><br />After a meeting of disgruntled leaders, Ambareesh said: “The party high command knows fully well about Ambareesh, Srinivas Prasad and Qamarul Islam. We are saving the party. The high command is aware of our strength.” <br /><br />Malikayya Guttedar said Siddaramaiah and Kharge are working towards wiping out the Congress in Karnataka. Speaking to reporters here, he said the Chief Minister has retained non-performing ministers and dropped those who were doing a good job. The reshuffle exercise has ended up damaging the party. Senior legislators have been sidelined. So, all the like-minded legislators are coming together to save the party, he added.<br /><br />‘No change in leadership’<br /><br />KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday ruled out a change in Siddaramaiah’s leadership. Speaking to reporters after meeting aggrieved Congress leader V Srinivas Prasad at his residence, Rao said Prasad and other leaders are upset because they were dropped from the ministry. But the party will look into their grievances and sort out all issues. Prasad is a senior leader.<br /> <br />Four Congress MPs - D K Suresh, Dhruvanarayan, Muddahanumegowda and B N Chandrappa - met Prasad and tried to pacify him. Senior party leader Sushil Kumar Shinde is likely to meet Prasad on Friday. <br /><br />High command tells CM to pacify rebels<br /><br />The Congress top brass on Thursday is learnt to have asked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to pacify the disgruntled legislators and resolve the issue at the earliest, reports DHNS from New Delhi. Sources said that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel spoke to Siddaramaiah and advised him to reach out to the aggrieved leaders as the high command did not want the matter to fester too long. Ahead of the reshuffle, the chief minister had explained the high command the reasons for dropping the ministers. He had also assured the party top brass that he was confident of handling any fallout, a senior leader told Deccan Herald.</p>
<p>Disgruntled MLAs in the ruling Congress have embarked on the “save the party” campaign and are seeking the removal of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The legislators led by former ministers V Srinivas Prasad and M H Ambareesh held a series of meetings throughout Thursday. But the disgruntled camp is not able to muster support required to shake the government or Siddaramaiah. The aggrieved legislators have, however, kept up their efforts to garner the support of like-minded party legislators. <br />Currently, the disgruntled camp has eight MLAs, including Malikayya Guttedar (Afzalpur) and Rajashekar Patil (Humnabad), who identified themselves with the rebel camp on Thursday.<br /><br /> Former chief minister S M Krishna, who spoke to Srinivas Prasad over phone, gave him a patient hearing. <br /><br />Krishna, who is currently in Mumbai, had complained to the high command against Siddaramaiah’s style of functioning a few months ago. <br /><br />Prasad told Deccan Herald that the ouster of Siddaramaiah was inevitable for toning up the party’s image. “The surgery, if any, should have happened there (to the post of Chief Minister). The party can be saved only through the leadership change. The reshuffle was not done properly. Siddaramaiah and Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabha) have conducted the reshuffle in order to fulfil their selfish goals,” he said. <br /><br />Opportunity lost<br /><br />Prasad said there was no dearth of leaders in the Congress to replace Siddaramaiah. The high command should pick a leader keeping the next elections in view. Though Kharge was one of the able candidates to become the chief minister, he has lost an opportunity by making his son Priyank Kharge a minister. <br /><br />He admitted that the disgruntled camp does not have the support of enough legislators to carry on the one-point agenda. <br /><br />“But we are not in a hurry. I am well aware of our limitation. Changes can happen in a week or a fortnight. But it has to happen and it will happen in the interests of the party. All these efforts are for the sake of party,” he stated.<br /><br />After a meeting of disgruntled leaders, Ambareesh said: “The party high command knows fully well about Ambareesh, Srinivas Prasad and Qamarul Islam. We are saving the party. The high command is aware of our strength.” <br /><br />Malikayya Guttedar said Siddaramaiah and Kharge are working towards wiping out the Congress in Karnataka. Speaking to reporters here, he said the Chief Minister has retained non-performing ministers and dropped those who were doing a good job. The reshuffle exercise has ended up damaging the party. Senior legislators have been sidelined. So, all the like-minded legislators are coming together to save the party, he added.<br /><br />‘No change in leadership’<br /><br />KPCC working president Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday ruled out a change in Siddaramaiah’s leadership. Speaking to reporters after meeting aggrieved Congress leader V Srinivas Prasad at his residence, Rao said Prasad and other leaders are upset because they were dropped from the ministry. But the party will look into their grievances and sort out all issues. Prasad is a senior leader.<br /> <br />Four Congress MPs - D K Suresh, Dhruvanarayan, Muddahanumegowda and B N Chandrappa - met Prasad and tried to pacify him. Senior party leader Sushil Kumar Shinde is likely to meet Prasad on Friday. <br /><br />High command tells CM to pacify rebels<br /><br />The Congress top brass on Thursday is learnt to have asked Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to pacify the disgruntled legislators and resolve the issue at the earliest, reports DHNS from New Delhi. Sources said that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel spoke to Siddaramaiah and advised him to reach out to the aggrieved leaders as the high command did not want the matter to fester too long. Ahead of the reshuffle, the chief minister had explained the high command the reasons for dropping the ministers. He had also assured the party top brass that he was confident of handling any fallout, a senior leader told Deccan Herald.</p>
