Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 11: Former minister, M B Patil, remarked that the Congress neglected Lingayat community after the period of former chief minister Veerendra Patil, and Vokkaligas after S M Krishna's term as chief minister. He analysed that these two communities turned against the Congress and caused its downfall. Thus, he indirectly expressed himself against the leadership style of Siddaramaiah, who always has been speaking about Ahinda (minorities, backward classes, Dalits).

Patil held a press conference at his residence on Tuesday December 10. He opined that the party has to win back the support of the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities if it wants to be resilient. He concurred with Siddaramaiah's opinion that backward classes, Dalits and minorities form the backbone of the Congress. "But because of this, we seem have given wrong signals to communities like Lingayat and Vokkaliga. We need to win over their confidence. An effort should be made to introspect the defeat under the guidance of senior leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge and we should make efforts to get support of all categories of people. We have to strengthen youth Congress, and infuse enthusiasm among the workers of the party right from the booth level," he insisted.

Patil said he would soon be writing to All India Congress Committee interim chief, Sonia Gandhi, to drive home these points. When questioned as to whether he is ready to become president of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee, he said he was offered this post in the past but had told Digvijay Singh that he did not want it. He did not totally reject the possibility of becoming KPCC president, by just saying that he would like to wait to find whether Dinesh Gundu Rao's resignation gets accepted.