Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Dec 3: It is reliably learnt that some senior Congress leaders, hurt at the way their party is suffering the ignominy of having to dance to the tunes of JD (S), have decided to complain to the party high command against former chief minister, Siddaramaiah. Their ire against Siddaramaiah, who also happens to the chairman of the coalition government's coordination committee and leader of the Congress legislature party, is that he has been showing the inclination to bend to the diktats of JD(S) supremo, H D Deve Gowda, by making compromises, rather than resisting the efforts made by the coalition partner to dent the standing of his party.
They point out that there has been inordinate and unexplained delay in the ministry expansion and appointment of chairpersons to corporations and boards. "As a result, Congress activists have neither any say nor power in the government. Siddaramaiah is the reason for the repeated postponement of ministry expansion," the leaders feel.
It is said that these leaders will together meet leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, with the hope that their grievances could be redressed.
High command angry at 'Shakti' failure: The central leadership of Congress party is learnt to have become angry at the failure of the party's national president, Rahul Gandhi's pet initiative, 'Shakti' scheme having not made enough headway in Karnataka. This is an ambitious scheme under which grass root level workers of the party get a chance to directly get in touch with Rahul Gandhi. The leadership, it is learnt, wants ministerial aspirants to produce proof of having successfully implemented this scheme in their respective constituencies. It is gathered that even in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh where the party is not in power, the membership drive under the said scheme has become a resounding success, and the state units been able to increase party membership by several lacs. The leaders feel that in Karnataka, party leaders are more interested in enjoying power rather than seriously implementing this scheme by getting rid of inertia. Those who show callousness are also likely to get warning from the high command, it is said.
When 'Shakti' was inaugurated in the state on July 29 by former union minister, P Chidambaram, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, Dinesh Gundu Rao, had exuded the confidence of enrolling 50 lac new members within three months of the launch but the actual figure at the end of four months stands at three lac. The scheme has further been extended by 15 days to enable leaders here to achieve the target. It is gathered that Gudu Rao has instructed in-charge secretaries to ensure that the scheme is successfully implemented.