Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru (MS)

Bengaluru, Jun 27: "MLAs do not have the authority to make public statements with regard to who will be chief minister in future. It should be discussed internally within the party," said Rehman Khan, president of disciplinary committee of state Congress.

The issue of who will be the chief ministerial face of the Congress in the 2023 state elections has divided the party into two factions, with one set of MLAs supporting former CM Siddaramaiah and the other backing KPCC president D K Shivakumar.

Speaking at a press conference in the city, Rehman Khan further said, "MLAs should go to the office of KPCC and inform the president. They can even go to the AICC and convey their opinion to the president. But once a person is in the party he or she should follow the tradition.

"We have held a meeting of the disciplinary committee today. We have also discussed the recent statements given by some of our MLAs. The statements given by some with regard to the future CM candidate of the party have violated our discipline policy. We want more information with regard to what statements the MLAs have exactly given to the public. We have to gather records. So the meeting has been postponed to next week.

"The statement on the subject of future CM is a blatant violation of the party's discipline and harmful to the stature of the Congress party. State incharge Randeep Surjewala also had asked the MLAs not to speak on the matter. We have taken a suo moto case based on his statement. We did not have any record with us like video clipping or newspaper cutting. We have discussed about the statement given by some during the RR Nagar by-election that was held earlier," he said.