Karnataka Congress cautions netas against projecting CM face, says 'only party can decide'

Karnataka Congress MLAs received a warning from former Minister Rehman Khan over projecting the party's next chief ministerial candidate after a Disciplinary Committee meeting was chaired, sources informed on Sunday. The row began after Congress MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan publicly supported Siddaramaiah to lead the party in the next Assembly elections following which he received the backing of other legislators while KPCC president DK Shivakumar urged his party members to refrain from doing so. 

Congress cautions Karnataka netas against projecting CM candidate

Conducting a virtual meeting of the Congress Disciplinary Committee, former Minister K Rahman Khan asked MLAs to hold discussions over the party's next CM candidate in private and not in public and noted that the party would decide on it and not its members. Cautioning party members against projecting a CM-face, the Disciplinary Committee also registered a suo motu complaint about the statements made by leaders backing Siddaramaiah to be the next CM-face and claimed that any comments made on Congress' next CM candidate were a violation of party rules. Noting that the MLAs 'had no right' to talk about the CM candidate, the Disciplinary Committee meeting was postponed to next week in order to gather enough evidence on comments and statements of the MLAs.

Siddaramaiah breaks silence, says he never said he'll be CM

Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah broke his silence on the row over Congress' next chief ministerial candidate and maintained that he had never said that he wanted to be the Chief Minister again. Siddaramaiah's remarks come after MLA Zameer Ahmed Khan publicly backed him to lead the party in the upcoming Assembly elections in Karnataka as the CM-face following which KPCC president DK Shivakumar warned party leaders to refrain from projecting any leaders as the chief ministerial candidate. On Thursday, Siddaramaiah noted that he had never said that he wanted to be CM again and urged MLAs to not make statements projecting him as such. 

Congress gags Karnataka leaders

Reportedly, the Karnataka Congress unit is divided on whether Shivakumar or Siddaramaiah should become the CM if Congress wins the next Assembly election. For instance, the Karnataka Congress' official Twitter handle posted in May that the COVID-19 pandemic would have been in control had Shivakumar been the Chief Minister. However, this tweet was deleted thereafter without any explanation giving rise to the speculation that the Siddaramaiah camp is miffed.

On the other hand, Congress MLAs Zameer Ahmed Khan and Raghavendra Hitnal publicly projected Siddaramaiah as the next Chief Minister of the state. Warning these leaders on June 22 for commenting on the leadership issue, Disciplinary Committee Chairman Rahman Khan stated, "Making statements in favour of one leader does not serve the purpose of the party when we are in the opposition. The president of the party is the head of the party in Karnataka. Congress does not have the culture of making statements in favour of any leader against the party decision".

But, this failed to make an impact as two more legislators- JN Ganesh and Bhima Naik also favoured Siddaramaiah. A former JD(S) leader, he became the first Karnataka leader in 40 years to complete his full term as the Chief Minister from 2013 to 2018. The infighting in Congress comes at a juncture when Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa is facing the heat from BJP MLAs. While multiple legislators have demanded his ouster in the last few months, the BJP top brass has reposed faith in his leadership for now.