DCC president: Moily, Muniyappa serving loyalists’ interests
Rift have put Congress high command and KPCC chief in spot of bother
By : g. s. srinivas
Update: 2014-11-23 04:25 GMT
Tumakuru: The continuing rift between former Union ministers Veerappa Moily and K. H. Muniyappa has reportedly put the Congress high command and the KPCC chief in a spot as they do not want to annoy either of the two leaders in the appointment of the Chikkaballapur district Congress president. With the district partly falling under the Chikkaballapur Lok Sabha constituency and partly under the Kolar Lok Sabha segment, both Mr Moily, who represents the former and Mr Muniyappa, who represents the latter, have been lobbying hard for the post of DCC president.
While Mr Muniyappa wants the post to go to his loyalist, Munikrishnappa, a Vokkaliga, Mr Moily is hoping it will go to Mr Shashikumar, son of former senior Congress leader, V. Muniyappa. Chikkaballapur may be a stronghold of the Congress, but the district unit of the party has remained headless since the resignation of Mr M. Anjanappa as its chief in June.
Mr Anjanappa’s supporters had violently protested when he was denied a ticket to contest the last Assembly elections and since then the groupism in the district Congress unit has worsened and the rift between the powerful MPs widened.
Others lobbying for the post of DCC president are Chikkaballapur MLA, Dr K. Sudhakar, who wants to see Mr N Ramesh, director of the local Okkaliga Sangha in it, and former MLA, S. M. Muniyappa, and an ex-Block Congress president, K. V. Naveen Kiran, who are themselves contenders. Chikkaballapur district covers five assembly segments of which three are represented by the Congress.