Sonia Gandhi upset with Siddaramaiah for rejecting national role

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah's rejection of Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s offer to shift to national politics has shocked party leadership.

Congress sources said that Gandhi had not expected such a strong response from Siddaramaiah and his stubborn attitude had the leadership in surprise.

By asking Siddaramaiah to move to Delhi, Gandhi was trying to achieve two objectives – end his turf war with Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar, and set in motion Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plan to bring party veterans to national politics, leaving the state to young leaders.

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The leadership change in Punjab was supposed to be part of a similar move and was expected to be replicated in other states till it went horribly wrong.

The Congress President has asked Siddaramaiah to take over as AICC General Secretary in charge of a key state and tried to sweeten the deal by offering to appoint him one of the Working Presidents of the party.

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As per the revamp plan, Congress is planning the return of Rahul Gandhi as party president with three to four working presidents representing different regions of the country.

A senior Congress leader said since Siddaramaiah was a popular leader in Karnataka with a large support base, Congress top brass was keen to have his consent before appointing him as an office-bearer in the AICC.

Gandhi was expecting a ‘yes’ from Siddaramaiah to the proposal to shift him to national politics, just as Mallikarjun Kharge had done in 2009. Kharge had set aside his chief ministerial ambitions and contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2009.

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Siddaramaiah, who is nursing chief ministerial ambitions, is learnt to have told his confidants that taking up the Delhi job was of no use at present when the party itself was weak at the national level.

He also feels some state leaders were conspiring against him to deny him a chance to be Chief Minister for the second time if the party came to power in 2023.

Siddaramaiah is strongly asserting himself in the party affairs in the state and also commands a strong support base among party legislators.

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