MYSURU: “I want to tell state Congress leaders that it does not matter to me who will become the chief minister. I want Congress to win in Karnataka. MLAs and high command will decide the chief minister. You worry about people,” asserted AICC president Mallikajun Kharge in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Knowing that the victory for Congress in Karnataka means a lot for Congress and to him as it is his home state, the 80-year-old Kharge sent out a clear message to Ahinda leader Siddaramaiah, KPCC chief
DK Shivakumar and others, who are making repeated statements on the chief minister’s post, to win the polls first.
The polls here are key ahead of the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, leading up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Kharge, who took over as the president of the Grand Old Party at its most trying times when the party had lost its opposition status in the Lok Sabha, wants to win Karnataka that will give him further legitimacy.
The return of Congress to corridors of power will give further impetus to the grouping of opposition parties, including TMC, AAP and TRS, to set a national narrative, allowing Kharge to emerge as a national opposition leader.
Congress lost the bargaining power after winning just 17 out of 70 seats in Bihar and was offered 25 seats by DMK in Tamil Nadu. But an emphatic victory in Karnataka will increase Congress’ bargaining power, other than giving a further stamp of approval to Rahul Gandhi’s Bharath Jodo Yatra that passed through 530 km in the state.
It will also provide Rahul a further zeal to take on Narendra Modi in the winning spheres of BJP. But a defeat will give scope for too many knives to come out, questioning the party’s leadership that would be difficult to contain even with the intervention of Gandhis. Kharge should now pull up his socks and push leaders and cadres to make use of the anti-incumbency factor, PayCM campaign, and allegations of corruption against the government to defeat BJP and not to worry about the chief minister’s post.
Political commentator Prof Muzaffar Asadi said this victory is badly needed for Kharge and it will also boost the prospects of Congress at the national level. He said Kharge has drawn the eyeballs of Dalits and the depressed towards Congress, adding to its vote kitty.
