Shut up and leave decisions to us: Mallikarjun Kharge tells Congressmen

Bengaluru: In his strongest admonishment yet of rabble-rousing, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday asked his Karnataka party colleagues to "shut up" and leave decision-making to the high command.

"My direction to all is: shut up and do your work. It's up to us to make decisions. First, do the work you've been assigned, ensure development reaches people and strengthen the party," Kharge said.

Kharge said this at a time when a section of Congress leaders—most of them counted as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's loyalists—are clamouring for the removal of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar as the party's Karnataka president.

"That is the desire of people who're speaking. But the high command can't act as per their desires," Kharge said when asked about demands for a full-time president. "The high command makes decisions based on its own set of targets and goals. And, the high command's decision is final," he said, adding that he will not react to "100 things that 100 people say".

The Congress veteran said speaking out of turn "damages the party".

Kharge also virtually ruled out any immediate changes. "The high command will decide when the situation arises. It needn't be today or tomorrow. Now, there's no question of saying that the chief minister or the party president will be changed. All that is speculation. No one should speak about that. We will decide who should be where and who should be retained in which position," he said.

"Ministers, MLAs or MPs...nobody should speak about changes or anything that weakens the party. Going forward, I expect that there will be closure to statements," Kharge said.

Asked about action against those who defy his order, Kharge said: "Let's see about that when the time times...the high command isn't so weak that we're dependent on one or two people to build the party."

Kharge urged his Karnataka unit to work with unity and implement the flagship 'guarantee' schemes well. "It's this model that we're trying to introduce in other states. But with such (controversies), all the good work gets missed," he said.