Congress affirms no change in Karnataka leadership, vows to expose BJP’s alleged conspiracy
New Delhi: The Congress party has declared that there will be no change in the leadership of Karnataka, reaffirming its support for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah amid corruption allegations. KC Venugopal, Congress General Secretary (Organisation), stated on Saturday that the party will expose what it calls a “scared” BJP’s “conspiracy” to target Siddaramaiah, who is an OBC leader, through “baseless” allegations and the use of the Governor’s office.
Amid the ongoing controversy, the Congress is also in discussions with its I.N.D.I.A alliance partners about organizing a joint public meeting in Bengaluru. This protest is expected to follow the pattern of similar events held in support of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren earlier this year.
The corruption allegations against Siddaramaiah relate to the MUDA land allotment to his wife, and the Governor of Karnataka, Thawarchand Gehlot, has sanctioned his prosecution. Siddaramaiah has since challenged this decision in the Karnataka High Court.
Following a meeting with Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and top leader Rahul Gandhi, Venugopal said that Siddaramaiah has the full backing of the party’s High Command. He dismissed any possibility of a leadership change, asserting that both the central leadership and the entire Karnataka Congress, including Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, are united in their support for Siddaramaiah.
The Congress believes that the BJP is attempting to destabilize the state government by targeting Siddaramaiah due to his popularity following the implementation of the government’s guarantee scheme. Venugopal also criticized the Governor for allegedly acting immediately against Siddaramaiah while not taking similar actions against BJP leaders.
The Congress plans to launch a campaign to inform the public about what it perceives as the misuse of the Governor’s office by the BJP and to defend Siddaramaiah against the corruption allegations.
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Maharashtra Congress chief Patole meets Kharge, dismisses resignation talk as 'rumours'
New Delhi, Nov 25: Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole on Monday dismissed as "rumours" talk of his resignation following the assembly polls debacle and stressed on "collective accountability" for the defeat.
Patole made the remarks after meeting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge during which he conveyed that the result had not reflected the sentiments of the people of Maharashtra.
"Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other national and state leaders were leading Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) from the forefront during the assembly polls. So, we were sure that the trends were in favour of Maha Vikas Aghadi, even the citizens believed that," the Maharashtra Congress chief said.
"If I talk about Nanded, the Lok Sabha bypolls and assembly elections were held on the same day. In Lok Sabha bypolls, our candidate was winning in six assembly seats, whereas, in the assembly elections, we are not winning even a single seat," he said, adding that there cannot be such a "huge difference".
This is the sentiment among the people also and they have stated that this government in Maharashtra was not being formed on their votes, he claimed.
"So, I spoke to Mallikarjun Kharge on this," he added.
Asked whether he had offered to resign or the party had asked for his resignation after the Maharashtra assembly polls defeat, Patole said, "These are all rumours and there is no truth in them. There is collective accountability."
Patole also said he will meet Rahul Gandhi in a day or two and discuss all issues.
"Democracy is being finished. We have discussed that... there was no talk of resignation," he said.
The MVA alliance, comprising the Congress, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and Shiv Sena (UBT), was restrained to 46 seats by the Mahayuti that reaped a rich harvest of 230 seats in the 288-member House.
