Congress tussle in Karnataka: Siddaramaiah holds breakfast meeting to present a united face

BENGALURU: With Lok Sabha elections a few months away, Karnataka Congress is facing problems in fighting the poll battle as a cohesive unit and there are indications that it may go the Rajasthan way, where in July 2020 Sachin Pilot had revolted against his boss Ashok Gehlot along with 18 MLAs.

Though chief minister Siddaramaiah held a breakfast meeting with a dozen ministers to present a united face on Saturday, it's no secret that the party has divided into two camps. A section of functionaries supports Siddaramaiah, while the other rallies behind DyCM DK Shivakumar.

According to a senior functionary, there are mounting concerns that infighting may doom the party in the state if BJP, which is visibly weak now, regains form after the Lok Sabha polls, as the undercurrents of the denial of the CM role to DKS are still at play.

Sensing this, the high command, which had earlier ignored the public utterances of ministers and MLAs, be it on leadership change or the appointment of more deputy CMs, has finally stepped in to end the infighting. This comes amid signs that their differences are touching sensitive sub-regional and caste fault lines ahead of the elections.

A concerned leadership has not just decided to clamp down on ministers and MLAs for public squabbles, it has reportedly given a clear warning to the groups to sink their differences and focus on polls.