BENGALURU: Trying to stay away from the controversy surrounding the Congress chief ministerial candidate and statements by section of legislators lobbying for opposition leader Siddaramaiah to be announced as the candidate, state unit president DK Shivakumar said the onus is on the opposition leader to take note of such statements.
“I have also come across a few statements by our MLAs with regard to this chief ministerial candidate race.
Our race should be limited to defeating the BJP and coming to power.
However, having said that, action against these legislators needs to be noted by our legislature party leader.
If the opposition party leader does not take note then the party high command will act,” said Shivakumar, putting the ball in the court of Siddaramaiah.
The ongoing tussle between the two factions within the Congress on Wednesday once again was raked up by Pulakeshinagar MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy who backed Siddaramaiah to be announced as the CM candidate from the party ahead of 2023 polls.
This, despite Siddaramaiah publicly suggesting that it was the BJP which was trying to point out factionalism in the Congress to discredit the opposition.
“We need to project Siddaramaiah as our CM candidate immediately.
If the Congress announced him as our CM candidate only then there is a chance of us winning 120 to 130 seats in the next assembly polls,” he said.
In Harihara congress MLA S Ramappa echoed similar thoughts and said that Siddaramaiah should become the CM candidate as Shivakumar still has age on his side.
“You go to any town and ask the young or old, everyone wants Siddaramaiah to become the CM in 2023,” he said.
However, Shivakumar dismissed the statements and said: “Have I ever said that I am in a hurry to become CM.
I have maintained that I am the footstone for the Congress to come to power in Vidhana Soudha.”