Congress top brass warns State leaders not to make statements out of line with party ideology
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Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal | Photo Credit: File photo
The Congress Central leaders are learnt to have taken serious exception to some State leaders, including party office-bearers and Ministers, making statements that is embarrassing the government besides providing fodder for the Opposition BJP and Janata Dal (Secular) to attack the government.
Sources said that Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal and Congress general secretary in-charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala met over a dozen Ministers on Wednesday and asked them to speak responsibly in public and in line with the party’s ideology. “Strict instructions have been issued to the Ministers to watch what they speak in public. With just about a year-and-a-half left for the elections, the party does not want to get distracted with unnecessary statements that could embarrass the government,” sources said.
Over the last month, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddi found himself in a foot-in-the-mouth situation, while the KPCC president B.K. Hariprasad made critical remarks about the government. It was also rumoured that Mr. Hariprasad was upset at not being invited for the 100 days’ celebrations of Mr. Shivakumar in office recently.
Meanwhile, the D.K. Shivakumar-led government has announced official spokespersons to offer the government’s views daily, and after the Cabinet decision to nominate eight Ministers as official spokespersons, the Deputy Chief Minister said that any other voice or views will not be treated as official.
Sources said that several party leaders and Ministers were critical of their party and Cabinet colleagues airing their views often, embarrassing the party. “The larger thinking is that if there are divergent views on issues, those could be raised internally in appropriate party forums instead of going public. The Central leaders insisted that efforts should be made to bring the party back to power in Karnataka in 2028. Ministers have been asked to align their statements with the party’s ideology and have been warned that the party could take a call if they continued with their antics.”
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Central leaders also discussed appointing a woman as District Congress Committee president since the party came under attack for making an all-male presidents’ team in the list of 35 DCC presidents named recently. There is a possibility of appointing a woman in one of the DCCs, sources said. “The Cabinet expansion to fill the remaining two Cabinet berths, including one for the woman, was also discussed,” sources said.
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