In a show of the re-affirmation of the party’s support to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s governance, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Parameshwara on Thursday told him not to be carried away by the rumours floated by “some disgruntled people”.
Putting at rest rumours about MLAs writing against the Chief Minister to AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, Dr. Parameshwara said he had told the Chief Minister to “be at ease as the KPCC was behind him like a rock”, and it would extend all cooperation to his governance.
Terming the letter as “nonsense”, he said it was simply “some murmur in the corridors of Vidhana Soudha” that had triggered speculation.
On the long-awaited appointment of chairmen to the boards and corporations, he said only the party high command could take a decision as it was a policy matter. He admitted that it should be done at the earliest as the workers, who were instrumental in bringing the party to power, would be eager to implement the party manifesto by using the positions given by the government.
Meeting in Delhi
Asked whether the meeting of the co-ordination committee of the Congress would be held shortly, he said the inaugural sitting would be held in New Delhi and all the members, including himself, Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Singh, would participate in the deliberations. He did not say whether the issue of chairmen of boards and corporations would be raised at the meeting.
The KPCC president rejected the idea of entering the Legislative Council with a vacancy after the resignation of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Mumtaz Ali Khan. He said his “main ambition” was to win maximum seats in the Lok Sabha elections for his party. He said the observers had submitted their covers containing the names of aspirants for the seats and they would be opened in three days.
Dr. Parameshwara said if the high command says there was no need to change the incumbent MPs in nine seats, then the KPCC State Election Committee, headed by him, would look into the names for the remaining 19 constituencies from the lists submitted by the observers.