Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Updated
Bengaluru, May 31: While incumbent Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dr G Parameshwara has been retained in his post, the All India Congress Committee has decided to accommodate almost all key contenders for top posts in the State party organisation have been accommodated.
Dr Parameshwara, who has completed six years in office as KPCC president and was inducted as Home Minister in the Siddaramaiah cabinet, has been asked to put in his papers as minister.
The AICC, however, decided to fight coming Assembly elections under the leadership of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, said an official press release issued by the AICC.
The Lingayat leader and former Minister S R Patil from north Karnataka has been appointed as the KPCC working president along with incumbent working president Dinesh Gundu Rao.
Rao would look after the party affairs in southern Karnataka while Patil, who was dropped from the Cabinet about two years ago, would look after the party work in north Karnataka.
Senior leader and Energy Minister D K Shivakumar has been appointed as the chairman of the Campaign Committee for the coming Assembly polls.
Former Union Minister K H Muniyappa, Kolar MP, has been included in the Congress Working Committee as a special representative while former Minister Satish Jarkiholi has been appointed as a secretary of the AICC.
Thus, almost all the key contenders for top posts in the party organisation ahead of next year’s crucial assembly elections in the State have been accommodated.
The decision to retain Dr Parameshwar as KPCC chief is seen as an attempt to ensure unity as well as maintain continuity in the State Congress as Karnataka going to Legislative Assembly elections next year.
The party high command has asked Dr Parameshwara to resign from the State Cabinet to devote his full time and energy in discharging responsibilities of the party president.
The 66-year-old Dalit leader, Dr Parameshwara is KPCC president since October 2010.
He was Minister of State for Sericulturein the S Bangarappa Ministry and Minister for Higher Education, Information and Information Technology and Medical Education in the S.M. Krishna Ministry.
Dr Parameshwara is the son of freedom fighter H M Gangadharaiah and is the chairman of Siddhartha Education Society.
By accommodating S R Patil and D K Shivakumar in the key positions, the party high command has apparently tried to keep both the dominant Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities happy, while senior Dalit leader K H Muniyappa has been given the honour of being a special representative in the all powerful Congress Working Committee. Another Backward Class leader Satish Jarkiholi has been elevated as AICC Secretary.