Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jun 30: There have been a number of claims, arguments, clarifications and blame game on the issue of who should be the next chief ministerial candidate for the Congress. The issue is snowballing into a major headache for the party leaders, even though the assembly election is two years away.

Some leaders bet on Siddaramaiah as the best choice to head the state. At the same time, the faction loyal to trouble-shooter of the Congress, D K Shivakumar, is also gaining in strength. Visits by former deputy chief minister Parameshwar, and central minister K H Muniyappa, have given rise to a call for Dalit as the next Congress chief minister of Karnataka.

These things make it clear that all is not well within the Congress. Former chief minister Siddaramaiah, speaking to media persons clarified that the Congress is united and there are no differences between its leaders. He dismissed the controversy raging over the issue of chief minister as media creation.

"If there is anything, we Congressmen discuss the same in the party forums. Such things cannot be divulged to the media. I do not react to such things. I discuss the issue where it should be, not in your presence. It is wrong to say that our party has no coordination. We are fine. Confusions and bickering are media creations," he clarified. He also told the media people that if a coordination committee is created, this fact will be made known to them.

Speaking on the issue of providing solace to the families devastated by coronavirus-related deaths, Siddaramaiah said that the All India Congress Committee has advised the leaders to visit residences of people who died of corona, during July. "We will meet and console these people for a month. We will install moral courage and confidence in them," he stated.