Saying that his man agenda is to bring the Congress party back to power in Karnataka, state party president DK Shivakumar clarified that he is no hurry to be the Chief Minister of state. He said, "I'm in no hurry for CM post. My agenda is to bring Congress back to power, I've said to use me as stepping stone for this."
He said, "I've seen statements of 2-3 MLAs. Siddaramaiah is CLP leader, he'll look into it. If he doesn't, Congress will still be alive in Karnataka."
He further said that, "No chair is empty in Congress at present, our race is to defeat BJP and bring the party back to power." He asserted that the party leaders need to fight against BJP and defeat it instead of diverting issues." "People, workers, leaders want to defeat BJP," he added.
Two more Congress MLAs on Tuesday favoured projecting Siddaramaiah as the party's chief ministerial candidate for the next Assembly election, which is two years away. Earlier, B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan and Raghavendra Hitnal had pitched for the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly and former Chief Minister. And now they are joined by Kampli MLA J N Ganesh and Bhima Naik, who represents Hagaribommanahalli Assembly segment.
However, Karnataka Congress Disciplinary Committee on June 22 issued a warning to party leaders leaders Zameer Ahmad and Raghavendra Hitnal for making statement that favoured "a person instead of the party." Ahmed and Hitnal were served the warning days after they had stated that they wanted Siddaramaiah to be the Chief Minister once again.
While a section of party leaders is pitching for the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah for the Chief Minister's post for the polls due in 2023, some are backing Shivakumar.
Reacting to Chamarajpet legislator B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan's repeated statements projecting Siddaramaiah as the "next Chief Minister", Shivakumar on June 20 said the party would go to polls under a collective leadership, and everyone have been asked to "stay within limits".
