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Enough of introspection, time for action: Digvijay Singh

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Digvijaya Singh

New Delhi: A day after he called for a “major surgery” in the party after its losses in assembly polls, Congress general secretary Dijviajay Singh said on Friday that the party needs to act now as “enough introspection” has been done after the 2014 Lok Sabha debacle.

“Now, whatever introspection had to happen has happened. What we need now is action, and that action has to be decided by the president (Sonia Gandhi) and vice president (Rahul Gandhi),” Dhe told India Today TV.

Singh’s comments came a day after Sonia Gandhi talked of introspection following the debacle in Assam, Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Singh said the party leadership had taken the feedback post 2014 and hoped that a roadmap had been prepared.

“Whatever I had to say and other thousands of people had to say, they have given their suggestions to the party which have been sifted. Hopefully they have planned a road map.

“So when I talk of surgery, it is the surgeon who has to decide the surgery he or she wants to do,” he added.

Singh had on Thursday called for a major surgery in the Congress after its electoral defeat.

While the Congress lost power in Kerala and Assam, it fared miserably in Tamil Nadu and failed to click in West Bengal. Its sole consolation came in Puducherry where along with the DMK it captured power.

Singh said he had confidence in Sonia Gandhi’s and Rahul Gandhi’s leadership.

On demands within the party that Rahul Gandhi’s sister Priyanka should play a more active role, Digvijaya Singh said it was her call.

“She has got charisma. She is articulate and she has got great resemblance to Indira Gandhi…”

(IANS)

Karnataka: Cabinet expansion to be delayed as Rahul, Digvijay not in India

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siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: The state government’s much-awaited Cabinet expansion and reshuffle have been indefinitely put off as AICC Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh are not in the country.

Digvijay Singh, for the past few weeks has been in the US as he is attending his ailing daughter, though he was supposed to return on Thursday, his trip has been delayed. Rahul, too is in the US. Hence, CM Siddaramaiah who was supposed to stay back in Delhi and discuss regarding the Cabinet expansion and reshuffle, will return to Bengaluru on Thursday evening. Digivjay Singh is in-charge of party affairs in the state. It should be noted that several ministerial aspirants who were in Delhi to campaign for ministerial posts will return empty-handed as the decision will be postponed.

CM Siddaramaiah said that since both Rahul and Digivjay were not in the country, he would discuss with them once they return.

He indicated that the talks would take place only after Rahul visits the state and speaks to the families of farmers who committed suicide which is scheduled for October 6 and 7.

With regard to the Kalasa-Banduri project, the state government will file an interim petition in the Supreme Court, said the Chief Minister and added that the petition would be filed after a legal team looked into the available options.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: Group of Congressmen set to revolt against Digvijay Singh

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Digvijay Singh

Bengaluru/Agencies: A number of current and past legislators belonging to Congress party are up in arms against Digvijay Singh, who has been in charge of Congress affairs in Karnataka since sometime. These people, who wield considerable clout in the party, have together begun an effort to divest Digvijay of Karnataka Congress affairs, and they have initiated efforts to bring pressure on the party high command to make this happen, sources said.

It is said that some state ministers and legislators are making efforts to ensure that Singh is relieved of charge relating to Karnataka, as they expect All India Congress Committee to be revamped during January or February 2015. Sources say that the issue has already reached Congress national vice president, Rahul Gandhi. These Congressmen are angry at keeping legislators and past legislators at bay while allotting seats in boards and corporations, and that the decisions of a single person is being imposed on all the people without justification.

It is gathered that top leaders in Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and government were ready to consider these people for heading corporations and boards, but Digvijay stuck to his stand against doing so. The party people are also angry that Digvijay had done so entirely on the advice of an individual.

It is learnt that Digvijay Singh has already instructed both Siddaramaiah and Dr G Parameshwara, to fill posts of directors in all urban development authorities, corporations, and boards in the state without further delay. He has told them to post loyal party workers to urban development authorities and to corporations and boards after obtaining resignations from present office bearers.

KPCC president, Dr G Parameshwar, has suddenly left for New Delhi, fuelling speculations about the purpose of his visit.

To accommodate maximum aspirants in boards, CM Siddaramaiah opts for power sharing

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CM Siddaramaiah (Photo credit: IE)

CM Siddaramaiah (Photo credit: IE)

Bengaluru: Karnataka chief minister, Siddaramaiah, who has been dilly-dallying on the issue of nominating heads for state-run corporations and boards for fear of ruffling the feathers of disgruntled leaders, has, in consultation with Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, G. Parameshwara, finalized list of chosen leaders for these posts.

A list of 95 nominations to important boards and corporations has already been handed over to the party high command on Friday November 21. National president of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, is expected to give her assent to these names in a couple of days, fulfilling the aspirations of 95 power-hungry politicians, who have been lobbying hard and vying with other leaders for these seats.

However, it is gathered that the term of these heads has been truncated to 18 months, as a compromise formula to accommodate maximum number of candidates. On expiry of the first 18 months, the present candidates will have to leave their posts to make room for fresh faces to be nominated by the party leadership again. The Congress government in the state has 42 more months of tenure, and during the last six months, everyone will be busy will elections. Therefore, the formula worked out presently is to share the next three years on prorata basis.

It is gathered that in tune with the high command directive, people who have been loyal to the party since long, and have worked in organizational positions successfully, have been given preference. Parameshwar said that the list includes 12 KPCC ffice bearers, six district Congress presidents, and leaders belonging to other backward castes. Current legislators, close relatives of leading Congressmen, those who fought in the last assembly election and tasted defeat, and those who recently migrated to the party have been left out as the central leadership’s stand on these candidates remained rigid, it is gathered.

The list it is said, has tried to strike a balance between all the castes and categories of leaders. Digvijay Singh and Rahul Gandhi reportedly expressed their approval for this list.

It is said that a list of about 1,500 members of boards and corporations has also been drawn. These members will be absorbed in about two weeks time.

Shashi Tharoor sacked as Congress spokesperson for praising Narendra Modi

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Shashi Tharoor

New Delhi: Congress MP and former Minister of State for External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor has been sacked as party spokesperson on the charge that he has praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi once too often.

The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) had wanted action against Tharoor for his praise of Narendra Modi and accepting the Prime Minister’s invite to him to participate in ‘Swachh Bharat-Abhiyaan’ campaign.

KPCC president V M Sudheeran said praises lavished on Modi repeatedly by Tharoor had hurt Congress and UDF workers who worked sincerely and tirelessly for his victory in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency for a second time.

Party president Sonia Gandhi has reportedly agreed with those in the Congress who allege that Mr. Tharoor has embarrassed and hurt the party with his “unnecessary adulation of PM Modi” in columns on news media.

He had consistently rejected suggestions that he was moving closer to the BJP by asserting that he was a “proud Congressman” and never endorsed the “Hindutva agenda” of the BJP.

“As a loyal worker of the Congress, I accept the decision of the party president,” said Shashi Tharoor.

The action against Tharoor comes at a time questions connected to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar at her hotel room in January have resurfaced. The Delhi Police are yet to pinpoint how she died; a team of doctors from AIIMS has said the 52-year-old died of poisoning, and not from an overdose of Alprax anti-depressant pills as another report had claimed previously.

Dissidence brews in Congress

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Siddaramaiah-Parameshwara

All is not well in state Congress, with dissidence brewing on a daily basis against Siddaramaiah’s government by disgruntled MLAs for cabinet posts. But many ministerial aspirants lining up the queue, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has decided to set aside the cabinet expansion by at least a month.

Sources close to Nasheman, say two of the reasons, why the CM does not wants to expand his cabinet, is firstly his aversion to appoint a deputy CM, which has been a long waiting demand of State Congress president G. Parameshwara, and secondly is his self reasons to single handedly control state politics for a longer time.

However, with the results of the recently concluded bypoll elections coming in favour of Congress, Siddaramaiah has effectively consolidated his powers, with even Congress general secretary in-charge of state, Digvijay Singh saying, he would leave it to the CM on when to expand the cabinet.

The biggest looser in this power struggle at least for now, seems to be G. Parameshwara, who left with no apparent choice, has given up his demands, following the decision of Congress high command.

“I have been a sincere party worker and will continue to be so throughout my career. I will stick to the high command’s decision in this regard,” he told reporters on seeking his reaction to the reports that the central Congress leadership was not in favour of creating the post of deputy chief minister in the state.

Though this has come as a disappointment, Parameshwara might strike at the right juncture, after being low for some time. One has to keep in mind that, he is an old party loyalist, and Siddaramaiah is still considered an outsider by many. Sources close to Nasheman, say that, MLAs left out of the cabinet may join forces to strengthen Parameshwara to unseat CM Siddaramaiah.

With these two camps cat fighting each other, one interesting individual to watch out for would be DK Shivkumar (DKS). An old party loyalist, DKS belongs to the powerful Vokkaliga community, who might well be a lone survival in the struggle for power between two leaders from the backward class.

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