LS polls: Perform or perish, Congress high command tells Karnataka ministers

After returning from New Delhi, G Parameshwara told reporters that the party leadership has issued a stern warning to the ministers in order to instil sincerity in ensuring the party’s victory in their respective seats.

The Congress high command has warned that the ministers, who were made in-charge of the parliamentary constituencies, would lose their posts if they fail to ensure the party’s victory in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, Home Minister G Parameshwara said on Friday.  

After returning from New Delhi, Parameshwara told reporters that the party leadership has issued a stern warning to the ministers in order to instil sincerity in ensuring the party’s victory in their respective seats.

“The party had called a meeting of Karnataka and other southern states to pass such instructions,” he said.

“The high command had clearly said that if the party gets defeated in seats where it can win easily, then it will be assumed that the job assigned to them (coordinators) is not done,” he said. The high command also told the coordinators to take their warnings seriously to avoid facing any consequences, he added.

“Selection of candidates or fielding ministers did not crop up as this meeting restricted itself to discussion on preparatory exercise,” Parameshwara said

Parameshwara added that the discussion about the candidates would be held during the AICC general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala’s visit to the state in a day or two.

Replying to a query on the push for three more deputy chief minister posts based on castes, Parameshwara asserted that the matter ceased to exist after party president (Mallikarjuna Kharge) ruled out such possibility for now. “No more discussions on the (topic),” he said.