Discontent among leaders, by all accounts, has surfaced in the ruling Congress in Karnataka much to the delight of the Opposition parties — Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) — which have been waiting for an opportunity to mock at the government.
What makes an interesting reading is the fact that president of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) G. Parameshwara has himself voiced his concern over some administrative and policy issues although he has been quick enough to dispel the report that he had been speaking against the government run by the party, of which he is the captain. It is common knowledge that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the KPCC president do not see eye to eye on a variety of issues which have a common thread between the party and the government.
Dr. Parameshwara has been seeking a berth in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet for well over a year and has even stated that he will not settle for anything less than the post of the Deputy Chief Minister although the government is run by a single party. He has been claiming for that status on the ground that it was he who led the party to victory in the May 2013 Legislative Assembly elections. He was one among the defeated candidates and has since been accommodated with a membership of the Legislative Council.
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Indications are that the differences between the Chief Minister and the KPCC president have been nipped in the bud, for the present, irrespective of the fact that the matter has been escalated to the Congress high command. It is stated that some of the Cabinet colleagues of Mr. Siddaramaiah have expressed the latter’s displeasure to the party bosses over the statements of the KPCC president, and Dr. Parameshwara, in turn, reportedly clarified that he was only referring to the views of the common people in the interest of the well-being of the government.
Interestingly, both the Chief Minister and the KPCC president shared a platform at the party office on Wednesday and conveyed that they had no differences. Dr. Parameshwara has completed four years as the KPCC president and has another year of term left following the amendments to a president’s tenure brought about during the last session of the All India Congress Committee.
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It should be noted that the discontent within the ruling party has a bearing largely over the denial of positions of power in the government to some of the leaders. The dissatisfaction at the present juncture bears a semblance to what happened a few months ago when the KPCC president voiced concern over the shoddy treatment meted out to the Scheduled Castes and the dissent was quickly sorted out.
Onus on DigvijayaAICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka Digvijaya Singh is believed to be seized of the matter and given the fact that he is also the chairman of the coordination committee, the onus is on him to bring about a better rapport between the party and the government.