JOIN USSiddaramaiah’s birthday will be Congress event, says D K Shivakumar
Karnataka's Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah’s 75th birthday bash in the form of a massive public meeting at Davangere next month will be a formal Congress event.
So far, the birthday meeting on August 3 was positioned as an apolitical function to celebrate Siddaramaiah’s persona and career. This was seen as a show of strength and his camp’s attempt to project him as the natural choice for the chief minister’s job should the party win the 2023 Assembly elections.
At a meeting with party leaders and office-bearers, Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar announced that Siddaramaiah’s birthday will be a Congress function.
“Siddaramaiah is turning 75 years old. It has been decided that the birthday event will happen on the party’s platform. It won’t be a non-political event,” Shivakumar told reporters after the meeting.
Shivakumar said former AICC president Rahul Gandhi will attend the public meeting at Davangere. “I will also participate in the event along with other party leaders,” he said.
This decision came just days after Congress leaders organising Siddaramaiah’s birthday addressed a news conference to clarify that the Davangere event will be apolitical.
Reacting to this, Shivakumar said: “The Freedom March we’re organising on August 15 is an apolitical event. But, Siddaramaiah is our leader. Our leaders have formed a committee. All of us will participate.”
The Siddaramaiah-75 Amrut Mahotsava Committee has 62 people, mostly Congress leaders, as vice-presidents, general secretaries and organising secretaries. There’s a separate welcoming committee with 27 members.
“If the event is held independently, then the risk of it becoming a show of strength is high. The occasion is Siddaramaiah turning 75, which will be celebrated as a Congress event. It’s like a damage control measure,” a source close to Shivakumar said.
Freedom March
Shivakumar said a Freedom March will be held on August 15 for which the party will mobilise 75,000 people in Bengaluru.
The party has launched a website - www.freedommarch.in - on which citizens can register to participate.
“As part of the 75th year of independence, the AICC has directed us to hold foot marches (padayatras) in the state. In every district, a 75-km-long march will be held. These marches have to be held between August 1 and 10,” Shivakumar said.
The party has asked its leaders to reach out to freedom fighters or their families during the marches.