Surjewala dismisses reports of dissent in Karnataka Congress

Bengaluru: Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala has dismissed reports of any dissent in the party's Karnataka unit in the wake of the party issuing notice to certain leaders after their recent statements on power sharing.

"Our PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) president, who also happens to be Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, is fully authorised to ensure that everybody toes the party line and does not speak beyond their brief, the Congress leader, who is in charge of Karnataka affairs, told reporters here.

Surjewala said some people get excited, either on account of their emotions or otherwise, and make statements which are beyond the remit and realm of the party's discipline. “I have asked Shivakumar to deal with them accordingly," he said.

He emphasised that the party's focus in Karnataka was to ensure that people of the State were given full participation in governance and the success of the five guarantees.

Surjewala's statement came a day after the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee issued notices to Kunigal MLA H D Ranganath and former MP L R Shivarame Gowda for publicly supporting Shivakumar’s chief ministerial ambition. 

Gowda had said the party would decide on making Shivakumar the Chief Minister next month, when the Congress government completes 30 months in office.

His claim is in line with a rumoured power-sharing pact between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, a tenure of two-and-a-half years for both.

On Wednesday, reacting to Ranganath and Gowda's statements, Siddaramaiah said he would complete his full five-year term.

Shivakumar, on the other hand, has stuck to his stance on maintaining party discipline. "Nobody has the right to speak on power-sharing. Where’s the discussion on power-sharing?” he said. “Whatever the CM has said is final. The CM has said that whatever the high command decides will be final,” he said.  

Signature campaign against 'vote theft'

Surjewala was speaking after launching a signature campaign in Pulakeshinagar in Bengaluru against alleged vote theft.

Doubling down on the party's attack on the BJP for a "designed conspiracy" to steal people's mandate through ‘Vote Chori’ (vote theft), he termed it an "attack on the Constitution and democracy".

Surjewala claimed that ‘Vote Chori’ was not restricted to just the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency in Bengaluru or the Aland constituency in Kalaburagi district, or even the Assembly constituency in Maharashtra whose record was released by party leader Rahul Gandhi.

"The ‘Vote Chori’ or stealing of people's mandate is a designed attack on India's constitution and democracy. The sinister forces of the BJP are taking away your right to elect a person of your choice," Surjewala told reporters.

He said the "designed conspiracy" was to take away the 'one man, one vote' principle enshrined in the Constitution.

Surjewala said the Congress had launched a nationwide signature campaign on ‘vote Chori’ against the forces of the BJP that have indulged in vote theft and the "captive" Election Commission of India, which, he alleged, had remained a "mute spectator" and a "participant."

(With agency inputs)