Loyalists of Siddaramaiah seek replacement of Surjewala?

Simmering discontent in the Congress is unlikely to end soon as a section of the party Ministers/legislators have reportedly complained to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah about the functioning of Randeep Singh Surjewala, AICC general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, and his alleged partisan attitude towards Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

The loyalists of the Chief Minister have reportedly urged him to put pressure on the party high command for replacement of Mr. Surjewala, who had issued instructions to Home Minister G. Parameshwara to call off a meeting of Dalit Ministers on January 8 in Bengaluru. Mr. Surjewala’s instruction to Dr. Parameshwara to cancel the meeting has not gone well with the section of senior leaders, sources said.

Sources claimed that four Ministers belonging to the Dalit community were reportedly unhappy with the manner in which Mr. Surjewala has been taking “unilateral” decisions on holding the public functions in Belagavi to mark the centenary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi presiding over the AICC session in 1924. They argued that Mr. Surjewala was not listening to grievances of different factions in the party.

Loyalists of Mr. Siddaramaiah plan to write to AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleging that Mr. Surjewala has failed to take all leaders together and maintain unity in the State Congress.

A section of the leaders demanded appointment of a full-time KPCC president for strengthening of the party organisation ahead of the rural and urban local bodies polls.