KC Venugopal cracks whip on KPCC murmurs

As murmurs increase in the Karnataka Congress over the impending rejig, AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal cautioned the state leaders over speaking out of turn on internal matters of the organisation.

“The appointments to the PCC are internal matters and the party high command will take a decision. There is no need to speak about it,” Venugopal told reporters here.

He said the announcement of the new Karnataka Congress chief will be made soon.

Last week, Congress President Sonia Gandhi held consultations with former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on the changes to the state unit of the party.

Senior leaders D K Shivakumar and M B Patil are considered as frontrunners for the post of the Karnataka Congress President, while the Siddaramaiah is likely to continue to lead the Congress Legislative Party.

The delay in announcement of the changes to the KPCC has led to a raft of speculation about the impending changes with leaders publicly discussing probables and commenting on the nature of the reshuffle.

Venugopal also took a dig at the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for failing to carry out an expansion of his council of ministers even a month after the announcement of the results of the assembly bypolls.

“There has been no expansion of the Karnataka cabinet. It is their internal matter, but a chief minister holding 16 portfolios affects development,” he said.