Dinesh Gundurao meets Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi

Over two months since his resignation as the KPCC president, Dinesh Gundurao met Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Gundurao said that Sonia Gandhi assured him that the decision on a new president for the state unit will be taken soon.

‘Our workers and leaders are in a state of confusion. It's been 2 months since I resigned as state party president. Let's not delay this further because it sends the wrong signal. She has assured that decision will be taken soon’, said Gundurao.

After the Congress party’s dismal performance in the crucial by-elections that cemented BS Yediyurappa’s government, the Congress chief resigned from his position, taking moral responsibility.

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Siddaramiah tendered his resignation 

Apart from Gundurao, Siddaramiah too sent his resignation as the leader of the opposition and the Congress Legislative Party leader. But despite the lapse of two months since then, the party high command has remained indecisive about the rejig in the state unit. Nor have the resignations been accepted nor have the new appointments been made so far, leading to disarray in the party.

In the December 5th byelections that took place for 15 assembly seats in Karnataka, BJP secured 12 seats while the Congress managed to win in only two constituencies. Senior leaders in the party had placed the blame of not just the defeat but also that of the defectors leaving the party on Siddaramiah and Dinesh Gundurao.

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Indecision in the Party

Since the resignations, multiple rounds of talks, both in Karnataka and in Delhi, have yielded no results over the change of leadership in the state. Republic had reported on how, in a crucial meeting that took place in G Parameshwara’s house, while DK Shivakumar had hoped to receive the unanimous support of all the senior leaders present for the post of KPCC president, MB Patil and Eashwar Khandre expressed their intention of lobbying for the same.

While the grapevine has been abuzz with reports that the high command had decided to hand over reins of KPCC to DK Shivakumar, the delay in an announcement has raised doubts on the reluctance in the senior leaders’ minds.

While Dinesh Gundurao has maintained that he will not withdraw his resignation at any cost and had mostly stayed away from attending any programs in the party headquarters in Bengaluru, towards the end of January, he started once again taking part in meetings and programs, saying he will continue with his duties till a decision is taken on his replacement. Insiders in the party say that the indecision has cost the party many ripe opportunities to take on the Yediyurappa government on many issues. While few leaders have spoken out intermittently, a lack of cohesive effort from the party has resulted in far less impact as the principal opposition party.

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