Siddaramaiah turns down Sonia Gandhi's offer for national role

Congress president Sonia Gandhi's attempts to broker a truce in the party's faction-ridden Karnataka unit by offering a national role to former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah appears to have come cropper.

Siddaramaiah, who is engaged in an intense turf-war with Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar, turned down Gandhi's offer to take up the post of AICC General Secretary, saying he preferred to stay in state politics.

Gandhi had called Siddaramaiah to the national capital after he had turned down a similar offer made by Rahul Gandhi.

Read | Will release caste census report if Cong voted to power: Siddaramaiah

During the meeting, Gandhi also advised Siddaramaiah against interfering in the internal party affairs and leave the decision-making to Shivakumar.

Gandhi's meeting with Siddaramaiah is seen as an attempt by the Congress leadership to assert its authority in running of party affairs on the lines of Punjab where it removed veteran leader Amarinder Singh as chief minister.

Siddaramaiah told Gandhi that his main job was to dethrone BJP government in Karnataka and bring the Congress back to power.

Coming out of the meeting, Siddaramaiah said he discussed political developments in the states and the upcoming assembly bypolls.

He refused to divulge further details about the meeting and insisted that he was not interested in national politics.

“No, I am not interested in national politics, I am confined to Karnataka politics only,” he said.

Last week, Shivakumar had visited Delhi and met AICC General Secretary incharge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala. Since the appointment of Shivakumar as Karnataka Congress chief last year, two power centres have emerged in the state.

Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah, the Congress Legislature Party leader, have had differing views on the appointment of district office bearers.

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