Khan pitches Siddaramaiah for CM, Ramya flags infighting in Congress

Factionalism in the Congress came to the fore once again after former minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan projected Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah as the next chief minister even as the party's former social media chief Divya Spandana urged leaders to fight as one.

Khan, the Chamrajpet MLA, urged citizens to “pray that our leader Siddaramaiah becomes the chief minister” at a religious event in his constituency.

This is not the first time Khan has pitched Siddaramaiah as the CM candidate, much to the chagrin of Shivakumar and other Congress leaders. At one point, the Congress high command had to step in with a diktat asking all party leaders to stop dropping chief ministerial names.

"God will hear the prayers," is all that Shivakumar said in response.

Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council B K Hariprasad said the party’s high command will decide when the time comes. “The election is still a year away. What Khan has said is his personal opinion. Our party believes in democracy and freedom of expression. Everybody knows the system that exists in our party. Our lawmakers inform their opinion to the party and the high command decides,” Hariprasad, who is not known to be the best of friends with Siddaramaiah, said.

Meanwhile, Spandana, also a former MP, tweeted expressing surprise over Shivakumar’s displeasure with party colleague MB Patil’s alleged meeting with Higher Education Minister CN Ashwath Narayan. “People across parties meet each other, go to functions, some even get married into families. I’m surprised Shivakumar would say this about MB Patil who is a staunch Congressman,” she said. “Shouldn’t the party be fighting elections as one unit?”

Patil, the KPCC campaign committee chairperson, told a news channel that he had taken serious note of Shivakumar's statement. The KPCC chief had said that Narayan met Patil seeking "protection" amid corruption allegations. Patil said he will raise the issue in the party forum.