Debate on next Karnataka CM candidate immaterial, says Congress leader H K Patil

Amid debate among Congress leaders in Karnataka on who should be the next Chief Ministerial candidate in the state, senior leader H K Patil on Friday said that there was no need to give too much importance for such a debate.

"Traditionally, the Congress has a system where elected legislators and the Congress high command decide who should be the chief minister. There is a clear system in the party and debate on the CM candidate is immaterial," Patil told reporters here.

Patil, who is also party in-charge for Maharashtra, said, "Some party workers must have suggested their leader's name as the chief ministerial candidate with affection. No need to take such things seriously."

The issue of chief ministerial candidate in the Congress was triggered during campaigning of bypolls in the state where some leaders suggested former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah should be next Chief Minister if the party came to power. However, some leaders favoured Karnataka Pradesh Congress President D K Shivakumar as the CM candidate.

"Moreover, debate on who should be the next Chief Minister is not an issue.at all. Our fight should be to dislodge the BJP government both in state and Centre," he said.

Patil also criticised the Centre for not releasing funds for the state which was hit by severe floods recently.

Attacking state government, he said, "It is unfortunate that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa failed to exert pressure on the Centre to release funds to take up relief works in calamity hit areas."