Looking satisfied with the exit poll results indicating a victory for the Congress in the Legislative Assembly elections in the State, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Parameshwara said there were many aspirants for the post of Chief Minister, but the high command would take a final call after the announcement of the results.
Speaking to presspersons, he rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party’s opinion that there would be a fractured verdict and said that the people, fed up with the coalition experiment coupled with corruption, had given a clear verdict in favour of the Congress, which would be known on Wednesday. He was categorical that there would be no chance for a coalition government.
Mr. Parameshwara, who left for Koratagere constituency to thank the people, said that the party had a tradition of taking the opinion of the MLAs in the Congress Legislature Party meeting and decide who should head the government. By virtue of being KPCC president, who was successfully leading the party to victory, if the exit polls were an indication, he said he was a strong contender for the post, depending upon the parameters on which the high command would decide. But, he did not explain it.
Though the KPCC presidents, who led the party to victory became chief ministers in the past, the tradition was also broken some times, he said. Asked whether he was ready to take on the Chief Minister’s mantle, he countered who would say no and said that he would handle it smoothly. Explaining how the party would fare in the elections, he said that it would get more seats in Hyderabad Karnataka region as the people benefited from the special status under constitutional amendment to Article 371 (J) and in coastal, northern Karnataka and mixed response in southern parts.
If there was a unanimous opinion in the CLP on a particular leader, the high command observers would announce it. Otherwise, they would discuss the possibility of choosing a person from among the other contenders, depending upon the support they command. Since, the Congress has a single and strong command, there would be no problem in choosing the CLP leader and all would abide by the decision.
The KPCC president said that the high command had not promised any leader, including himself, of anointing them as Chief Minister and they were merely asked to work for the success of the party. He said no arrangements had been made by the party to send observers for a discussion to the city, in view of the exit poll results either. Asked why there were mistakes in the distribution of ticket, he corrected it saying they were political compulsions.
