Some leaders trying to insult Kharge, rues Congress MP D K Suresh

Bengaluru: Bangalore Rural Congress MP D K Suresh on Thursday accused his own party's leaders of “insulting” AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge on the issue of creating more deputy chief ministerial positions.

Suresh’s statement is seen as the camp war within the Congress that culminated in Kharge trashing the idea of having three more deputies. Suresh is the brother of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also the Karnataka Congress president.

"Some people want to embarrass our AICC president given that he's from our state," Suresh said without taking names. He was responding to the demand that three more deputies be made by Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna, Public Works Minister Satish Jarkiholi and a few others.

It is said that Shivakumar is not in favour of having more deputies. The demand for more deputies is widely seen as a plan to keep Shivakumar under check.

However, Suresh said it is not about Shivakumar. "As KPCC president, (Shivakumar) is working with five working presidents. We'll welcome it if 30 (ministers) are made deputy CMs," he said. "But the point is, some leaders are trying to insult the AICC president. That shouldn't happen."

Earlier this week, Kharge junked the idea of appointing more deputy chief ministers and asked his Congress colleagues to focus on governance. This did not stop the likes of Rajanna from reiterating the need to have more deputies from SC/ST, minority and Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities, which he argued would benefit the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.

"Now that the AICC president has clarified, I'll stop raising it," Rajanna said. "But I still stand by my demand."