Bangalore, May 28
Congress president Sonia Gandhi today chose Mallikarjun Kharge as the head of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Karnataka, underscoring the party’s plan that it will continue trying to consolidate its support base among the Dalit voters of the state.
Kharge also happens to be the KPCC chief and was expected to rally the Dalits behind the party in the just concluded Assembly elections. The move, however, did not yield the desired result as the BJP won a large number of seats reserved for SCs and STs in the state.
Having been chosen as the leader of the CLP, Kharge has also become the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly. He, in fact, resigned from the post of KPCC chief yesterday when he met Sonia Gandhi in Delhi.
His resignation was accepted by the Congress president who asked Kharge to continue as the KPCC chief till the time another Congress leader was appointed to that post.
Prithviraj Chauhan, union minister and in charge of the party affairs in Karnataka, who was here along with AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh to oversee the CLP leader’s election, said a new president of KPCC would be appointed soon after consultation with state and Central leaders.
Chauhan said the party MLAs, who met at the KPCC office here today, passed a resolution authorising party president Sonia Gandhi to choose the CLP leader in the state.
Kharge, who had won a record ninth victory in the Assembly elections from Gulbarga district, was formally proposed for the CLP leader’s post by former Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and a recent entrant in the party Siddharamaiah. The proposal was seconded by D.K. Shivakumar, a veteran Congress legislator from Kanakapura segment.
Siddharamaiah and Shivakumar were both aspirants for the post of CLP leader. While Shivakumar was present when the announcement regarding the choice of Kharge as CLP leader was made, Siddharamaiah was not seen. Asked why he was not there, Digvijay Singh only repeated that Siddharamaiah had proposed the name of Kharge.
Earlier, during the meeting of the CLP, the two Central observers asked the legislators to give up any idea of tying up with the Janata Dal (Secular) for cobbling up a coalition government in the state. They asked them to focus on the coming Lok Sabha elections and said having any truck with the JD(S) at this juncture would give a wrong message to the electorate.
