All India Congress Committee (AICC) Vice-President and MP Rahul Gandhi will hold quarterly review of the performance of the Congress government, led by Siddaramaiah, and also of the party in the State.
AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh told a Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office-bearers meeting on Thursday evening that a coordination committee of the AICC would be constituted shortly and that the meetings of the committee would be attended by himself, KPCC president G. Parameshwara, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and a few important leaders from both the government and the party.
However, more interestingly, Mr. Rahul Gandhi would make periodical review of the performance of the government and the party.
Opinion divided
Meanwhile, opinion is divided on the constitution of the coordination committee, though a “review committee” did exist during the S.M. Krishna government.
This time, it is likely that Mr. Digvijay Singh, who is in charge of the party affairs in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, may become its ex-officio chairman. Alternatively, Mr. Siddaramaiah and Dr. Parameshwara may be appointed as chairman and co-chairman of the committee.
Defending the decision, party sources said that this was necessary as most Ministers, barring Mr. Siddaramaiah, H.K. Patil, R.V. Deshpande, M.B. Patil and T.B. Jayachandra, did not have much command over the cadre. “The idea is to instil a sense of belonging,” a leader said.
However, critics of this decisionquestion the Constitutional correctness of forming a committee to control the Chief Minister.
Parameshwara’s case
On the demand to make Dr. Parameshwara deputy chief minister, the leaders said that the tricky issue was that Dr. Parameshwara’s term as KPCC president would end in a few months, but no seat would fall vacant in the Legislative Council till May to nominate him.
The leaders said that Mr. Digvijay Singh was against any “political manipulation” to get Dr. Parameshwara elected to the Assembly.
