Bengaluru, Mar 30 : The All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Rahul Gandhi has issued a stern warning to the party leaders and workers working against the interests of Congress-JD(S) alliance candidates in the Karnataka in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
According to the KPCC sources, the Congress president had sent instructions to all the party-men not to derail the Congress-JD(S) pre-poll alliance in the state, by working against the coalition candidates.
Stating that there is an urgent need to defeat the communal forces which are threatening to destroy the plural character of the country, the AICC president had appealed the party-men not to do anything which would weaken the secular forces.
Incidentally following sustained efforts the rebellion in the party at Tumakuru Lok Sabha seat where the sitting Congres MP, Mudduhanumegowda was convinced to withdraw from the fray as a rebel candidate after the seat was allocated to JD(S) and former prime minister H D Devegowda is contesting from this segment.
Another former Congress MLA, N Rajanna was also pursued to fall in line in the same segment.
The missive from the AICC president, warned the rebels of stringent disciplinary action if they made any attempt to work against the party interests, assumed importance following reports that in several Lok Sabha constituencies, synergy between the Congress and the JD(S) leaders was lacking and they were reluctant to campaign for JD(S) candidates.
On Thursday, in Mysuru, several JD(S) leaders including Higher education minister G T Devegowda and the Tourism minister S R Mahesh were absent when the Congress candidate C H Vijayashankar had filed his nomination papers for the Mysuru Lok Sabha seat.
In Mandya Lok Sabha seat, where independent candidate Sumalatha is contesting with the support of the BJP, against the JD(S) candidate Nikhil, several Local Congress leaders are actively taking part during the campaign.
The Congress and the JD(S), both of which had arrived for a seat sharing agreement, are contesting in 21 and 7 seats respectively in Karnataka.
