No direction from Cong high command on leadership change, says Yathindra Siddaramaiah
Mandya (PTI): Congress MLC and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's son Yathindra Siddaramaiah on Friday said the Congress high command has not given any direction on the leadership change, and the confusion is a media creation.
He also said no one knows whether any promise was made in 2023 about leadership change after two and a half years, and hence it was not good to speculate about it.
"There is no battle or skirmish (in ruling Congress). Since there is no confusion amongst us, I feel the media is into perception creation. The Congress high command has not given any direction for leadership change. If there is anything like that, then they will call and discuss it, Yathindra told reporters here.
He added that some people are saying that the deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar should be elevated, but he has said that he will listen to the party high command.
The party high command has said that it will invite both and discuss the issue. Till then no confusion should prevail, he noted.
Regarding confusion in the party over the leadership issue, Yathindra said there can be aspirants in every party, and some might have demanded the post of Chief Minister.
According to him, people aspiring to become Chief Minister is not a big issue, as it happened in all the political parties in power, including the BJP when it was ruling Karnataka.
Both the CM and DCM have said that they will stick to what the party high command says. Hence, all the confusion will be resolved.
To a question on the promise to Shivakumar to make him the next Chief Minister, Yathindra said, "No one knows whether any promise was made about leadership change after two and a half years. High command may or may not know about it. So, it is not proper to speculate about it."
On the question of MLAs being divided on the issue, he said, "Which MLA is in whose favor should not be discussed before the media. It is the internal matter of the party, which should be left to us."
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
