Karnataka Congress prez welcomes new entrants, advises them not to indulge in groupism

Amid major political conflict within Karnataka Congress, party president DK Shivakumar on Friday advised new leaders not to indulge in groupism while welcoming them to the party. This came after leaders like Zameer Ahmad, Bheema Naik, Kampli Ganesh, Akhanda Srinivas Murthy, and S Ramappa said that Siddaramaiah must be the next Chief Minister of the state.

While speaking to the media, Shivakumar said, "Whoever comes from other parties and joins Congress needs to follow the party's ideology, instead of indulging in groupism."

Shivakumar also advised the new leaders to make public statements in favour of the party instead of a 'person.' He added, "Worshiping a person or creating groupism doesn't serve the purpose of the party."

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday had asked MLAs not to make public statements and project him as the CM candidate for the 2023 assembly election. There is a major split within the party on the issue of who will be the CM face with factions loyal to him and state party president Shivakumar.

Shivakumar VS Siddaramaiah

The conflict between the two camps got public after party leader Zameer Ahmad, on last Sunday, referred to Siddaramaiah as the 'future Chief Minister of Karnataka'. He said, "I don't want to say Siddaramaiah is the past chief minister. I want to say that he is the future Chief Minister. That's what the feeling of the people is." On the other hand, 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. Responding to reports of cracks within the Karnataka Congress, Shivakumar had said earlier that the focus should be solely on helping the party win the polls. 

The state party president had also added that no one can be projected as the CM face before a formal announcement by the party's top brass. Meanwhile, Siddaramaiah, who served as the CM from 2013 to 2018, had become the first Karnataka leader in 40 years to complete his full term.

(With ANI Inputs)