No change in Karnataka leadership; will expose ‘scared’ BJP: Congress

New Delhi: There will be “no change” in leadership in Karnataka and the Congress will expose a “scared” BJP’s “conspiracy” to target “OBC Chief Minister” Siddaramaiah through “baseless” allegations and using the Governor’s office, party General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal said on Saturday.

Along with its protests, the Congress is also discussing with its I.N.D.I.A partners about holding a joint public meeting to protest in Bengaluru on the lines of similar exercises done in support of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Jharkhand counterpart Hemant Soren earlier this year.

His comments came as Siddaramaiah is facing corruption allegations in connection with MUDA land allotment to his wife and Governor Thawarchand Gehlot has sanctioned his prosecution, which the Chief Minister has challenged in Karnataka High Court.

At a meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and top leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, Venugopal said Siddaramiah has been categorically told that the High Command is “standing strongly” with him because the party is “convinced” about the “conspiracy” against the Chief Minister.

Asked whether there is a possibility of a change in leadership, Venugopal told DH, “no. We are fully backing the Chief Minister. It is not just the central leadership, the entire Karnataka Congress under the leadership of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar is strongly backing Siddaramiah.”

The view in Congress is that the BJP is “scared” of Siddaramaiah’s popularity following the implementation of the guarantee scheme after the government formation. Venugopal said the Assembly victory was because of Congress’ ideology and Siddaramaiah-Shivakumar leadership combination.

“Nobody will believe that Siddaramaiah is corrupt. The attempt is to destabilise the Congress government and oust the OBC Chief Minister,” he said indicating the Congress line of defence while countering the BJP campaign.

Venugopal also wondered why Governor Thawarchand Gehlot, who “rushed to clear” the action against Siddaramaiah, is not acting against Lokayukta plea for sanction against Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy though he insisted Congress would not do anything out of “political vendetta”.

“But shouldn’t law take its own course? The Governor is not clearing so many files related to BJP leaders. Even the Solicitor General is flying down from Delhi for the Governor. We will tell people through our campaign how the Governor’s office is being misused by BJP,” he claimed.

He said the massive majority Congress achieved in the May 2023 Assembly elections was due to the poor, including those among upper castes, trusting Siddaramaiah. It is the BJP national leadership behind the allegations, he said.

Venugopal said the Congress will “explain to people” that there is no corruption involved and claimed that the BJP’s attempt to tarnish Siddaramaiah’s image through a ‘yatra’ did not attract much traction.