Has a ‘weak’ Congress high command failed to break the deadlock on CM candidate?
The Hindu
The absence of a strong and authoritative leadership with vast negotiating skills at the AICC is said to be one of the reasons behind the failure of the Congress to break the deadlock on the chief ministerial candidate issue in Karnataka, amidst a massive majority of 135 seats.
The absence of a strong and authoritative leadership with vast negotiating skills at the AICC is said to be one of the reasons behind the failure of the Congress to break the deadlock on the chief ministerial candidate issue in Karnataka, amidst a massive majority of 135 seats.
The Congress Central leaders have been unable to as yet patch up the differences between two regional satraps KPCC chief D.K. Shivakumar and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Both are refusing to climb down from their adamant stand, thus holding up the announcement of the name.
In the earlier years, when Congress was a formidable presence, the likes of the late Makhanlal Fotedar, the late R.K. Dhawan, the late Ahmed Patel and Ghulam Nabi Azad used to command respect among party leaders across the country. Their experience and negotiating skills used to help the party arrive at a consensus on choosing the chief ministerial candidate and allocation of ministerial berths to leaders, a senior Congress leader said.
AICC general secretaries such as Randeep Singh Surjewala and K.C. Venugopal have been convening meetings between the leaders, but are as yet unable to break the stalemate on the chief ministerial candidate.
Though AICC president M. Mallijarjun Kharge has vast experience of over five decades, he has been largely depending on the official word of former AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. More importantly, Mr. Kharge, who hails from Karnataka, would dislike being called partisan by supporting one candidate for the top job.
Citing an example from even the recent past, the leader said, for instance, that in 2018, the then Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel struck a deal with the JD (S) and installed the JD (S)-Congress government led by H.D. Kumaraswamy, on the very day of the poll result. Mr. Azad quit the Congress and Mr. Patel passed away in November 2020.
Now, in States such as Rajasthan, Congress leader Sachin Pilot and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot are at loggerheads, while Congress lost its government in Madhya Pradesh owing to “incompetence” of the central leadership, another leader said.
The Medical & Health Department launched a mass screening test in the tribal hamlets of Buruga and China Konela of Ananthagiri mandal in the Alluri Sitharama Raju district on Monday, June 10. It also organised a medical camp to detect malaria cases and treat those with symptoms of the infection at Buruga.