Shivakumar hosts gala dinner to mark 6 years as Karnataka Congress chief
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday threw a dinner party at a five-star hotel in the city to celebrate the completion of six years as the Congress state president.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his cabinet colleagues and many MLAs attended the dinner party.
As Shivakumar welcomed the CM on his arrival, the latter greeted him with a bouquet and congratulated him for completing six years as the KPCC president.
Shivakumar was appointed as the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president on March 11, 2020.
He assumed the charge when the state unit was running into rough weather.
The party had lost the assembly election after five years of Congress rule from 2013 to 2018. In the face of a hung assembly, it formed a coalition government with Janata Dal (Secular), led by its ally’s second-in-command H D Kumaraswamy.
The government lasted only for a year from May 2018 to June 2019. After the fall of the coalition government, BJP led by B S Yediyurappa came to power.
Following the drubbing in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Siddaramaiah and Dinesh Gundu Rao had resigned as the leader of the Congress Legislative Party and Congress state president respectively.
Displaying his organisational skills, Shivakumar raised the party cadres. The Congress under his leadership defeated the ruling BJP with a thumping majority in 2023 assembly election by winning 134 seats in 224-member House.
Presently, the Congress government has a strength of 140 MLAs, including the support of independents.
The Congress also managed to raise its number from just one seat from Karnataka in 2019 Lok Sabha election to nine MPs in 2024.
There has been a power tussle going on between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar. However, the two leaders often put up a united face.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Surjewala slams Pratap Simha’s ‘vile’ remarks on CM Siddaramaiah, demands apology from BJP
Bengaluru (PTI): Congress general secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the BJP over alleged disparaging remarks made by former Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah during an assembly bypoll campaign in Bagalkote.
Simha made the remarks while campaigning for BJP candidate Veerabhadrayya Charantimath, triggering a political row ahead of the by-elections scheduled for April 9.
Congress has fielded Umesh Meti, son of former MLA late M Y Meti, whose death necessitated the bye-election.
"Pratap Simha's vile remarks about Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Bagalkot have exposed the BJP's despicable politics once again," Surjewala said in a social media post.
Alleging a larger political design, he added, "It is increasingly evident that Pratap Simha’s outburst is driven by desperation," and accused the BJP of using such remarks to target backward classes, Scheduled Castes, and minorities.
The Rajya Sabha member further claimed that the incident reflects a pattern within the party. "This is not one man's madness—it is the BJP’s political culture," he said, adding that the remarks were aimed at "denigrating leaders from marginalised communities".
Referring to past incidents, Surjewala said, "CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar have received death threats in the past, including one from BJP leaders who warned that their bodies would be stuffed into a refrigerator."
The Congress leader also criticised the BJP’s bypoll campaign strategy, alleging "internal contradictions".
He pointed to the party’s use of expelled MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal in campaigning despite earlier disciplinary action against him, accusing the BJP of resorting to "abuses and indignities" against opposition leaders.
Surjewala demanded immediate action from the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Nitin Nabin, state president B Y Vijayendra, and Leader of Opposition R Ashoka.
He said they must tender a public apology to Kannadigas, particularly to OBCs, SCs, and minorities, over the remarks, and urged the party to expel Simha if it does not repudiate his statements.
Surjewala also called for legal action, demanding that an FIR be registered against Simha and that strict measures be taken.
Warning of "political consequences", he said the electorate in the bypoll-bound constituencies would respond decisively if the BJP failed to apologise, asserting that voters would "teach the BJP a befitting lesson" in the elections.
There has been no immediate reaction from the saffron party yet.
