Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Jul 21: After the Congress high command recently appointed former chief minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, as a member of the party's executive committee, an effort on a slender scale has begun within the party circles to bring pressure on the leadership to unseat him from the post of the leader of Congress Legislature Party. It is said that a faction of the party led by deputy chief minister, Dr G Parameshwar, is making this effort. Although this demand is still feeble, it has the potential of dividing the party into two factions.

Siddaramaiah is the chairman of the coordination committee which has been entrusted with the task of striking a balance between the coalition partners. He also happens to be the leader of the Congress Legislature Party here. Additionally he has bagged membership of the national level working committee of Congress party.

As Siddaramaiah is now holding three important positions, many in the party feel that one of these posts should be taken away. The demand is mainly emanating from people loyal to Dr G Parameshwar, it is said. The main aim of the people backing this demand is said to be taking the post of the CLP leader from Siddaramaiah. The basic idea which drives this plan is to taper away Siddaramaiah's hold on legislators. Those loyal to Siddaramaiah have sensed that while there is no strong effort within the party in support of this idea, some circles have been trying to get some mileage to this demand by floating it through the media. Siddaramaiah's supporters believe that the former chief minister alone has the capacity to carry all the MLAs with him, and that most of the legislators back him for this post. As unseating him would result in revolt, the high command will not accede to this demand, they feel.

But several other leaders do not want to lose an opportunity to align Siddaramaiah from state politics as he is associated with national level politics now. In a few days, this faction might try to convince legislators loyal to Siddaramaiah to change their stand. If this happens, there will be reaction from the others, in which case, a revolt is sure to occur within the party.