Rift over next CM candidate: K’taka Cong Disciplinary Action Committee holds meeting

Team Udayavani, Jun 28, 2021, 10:50 AM IST

Bengaluru: The Congress party’s Disciplinary Action Committee held a meeting on Sunday under the leadership of its chairman Rahman Khan, mid the speculation of a rift within Karnataka Congress over the chief ministerial candidate for the next Assembly polls.

A release issued by the Karnataka Congress said that the Disciplinary Action Committee of the KPCC met online today morning via Zoom due to the ongoing weekend curfew restrictions.

The statement said that in light of the guidance issued by Congress General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala forewarning elected representatives and party members from expressing their views in public and in the media on the question of the future leadership of the legislature party, the members of the committee took Suo Moto notice of recent events.

It said that the committee members requested the committee Chairman to call an in person meeting at earliest to discuss the issue in detail and plan the future action plan.

Meanwhile, Khan once again called upon all Congress leaders to unitedly fight for the people of Karnataka and put party before self.

This comes in the backdrop of claims that there is a split within the party MLAs with one faction backing Siddaramaiah as the chief ministerial candidate while the others support Shivakumar for the post, in the eventuality of Congress winning the 2023 assembly polls.

With Assembly elections less than two years away, Congress MLA Zameer Ahmad had last week said Siddaramaiah should become the “future Chief Minister of Karnataka.”

Congress MLA Ramappa Timmapur had earlier remarked that DK Shivakumar has age on his side and can become Chief Minister later but Siddaramaiah must become the next Chief Minister.

On Tuesday, Congress Disciplinary Committee in the state issued a warning to party leaders Zameer Ahmad and Raghavendra Hitnal for making statements that favoured “a person instead of the party.”

Ahmed and Hitnal were served the warning days after they had stated that they wanted Siddaramaiah to be the Chief Minister once again.