Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Dec 21: Former chief minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, reportedly has agreed to withdraw his resignation as the leader of the Congress legislature party (CLP) in the state. He is likely to make a public announcement about this decision in a few days after holding discussions with All India Congress Committee interim president Sonia Gandhi, and leader Rahul Gandhi.

Owning moral responsibility for the subpar performance of the Congress in the recent bypoll held for 18 assembly seats in the state, Siddaramaiah had tendered resignation as the CLP leader. The high command of the party had kept his resignation letter pending for 15 days, before deputing veteran Congressman Madhusudan Mistry, to the state to collect opinion of the party leaders on the issues of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president and CLP leader, on Friday.

Immediately on his a arrival in the city, Mistry directly went to Siddaramaiah’s residence and tried to convince him to withdraw his resignation letter. Siddaramaiah is said to have told him about his helplessness to strengthen party's organizational set up in the face of non-cooperation by senior Congress leaders. Mistry thereafter contacted the leaders who were non-cooperative after which these leaders met Siddaramaiah and prevailed upon him to withdraw his resignation letter, it is gathered.

It is said that during the consultation Mistry had with various leaders, a consensus about the need to change KPCC president was felt. Names of D K Shivakumar and M B Patil have emerged as leading contenders for this post. If Shivakumar becomes KPCC president, Ishwar Khandre will continue as its working president. The party also may decide on giving suitable positions to Dr G Parameshwar, Dinesh Gundu Rao and H K Patil, and everything will become clear by second week of January 2020, leaders said.

At the same time, the national leaders are yet to take a call on the resignation tendered by Siddaramaiah to the post of the leader of the opposition in the assembly A few senior leaders from Karnataka may also be accommodated in All India Congress Committee to assuage their feeling of having been neglected and left out high and dry, sources added.