Only BJP will gain if we fight in public, says Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: In what could be termed as a desperate attempt to check party MLAs who in the recent past had raised the banner of revolt which had taken the coalition government to the brink, the state Congress leadership on Tuesday warned them that the high command will not tolerate indiscipline and anyone crossing the line will have to face disciplinary action. Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah, who addressed the legislature party meeting, said that the high command had taken serious note of party MLAs going public with their grievances which he felt, would dent the party's image. “If you indulge in this kind of activity, the BJP will benefit. To prevent the BJP from getting the upper hand, we have to stay united and discuss our differences within four walls,” he said.

The meeting saw a discussion on a variety of subjects ranging from reservation in promotions for SC/ST employees to preparations for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.  Congress MLA from the SC community vociferously demanded that the government should fight for the rights of SC/ ST community employees in government service. “When the case comes up before the Supreme Court bench on Wednesday, the state should strongly pitch for providing reservation in promotions,” Social Welfare Minister Priyank Kharge reportedly told the meeting. Mr Kharge got support from other SC MLAs, sources in the party said.

Reacting to this, CLP leader Mr Siddaramaiah said that he was confident that the government would take care of the issue. The former CM who had met party central leaders in Delhi on Monday, told the meeting that the top brass had asked all state units to make preparations for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. “If we continue to fight in public, it will help the BJP which may expose out infighting before voters and consolidate its position. So, we have to be cautious and careful.  Our main focus should be the preparations for the LS polls,” he said.

He added, “In the last election, in spite of the BJP launching a disinformation campaign against us, we got more votes in terms of percentage and this clearly proved that the Congress was more popular than the BJP." A section of MLAs including S.T. Somashekar and Bhairathi Basavaraj felt that  Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwar had disappointed party MLAs by not coming to their rescue in administrative matters. “CM H.D. Kumaraswamy blindly protects the interests of his party MLAs (ofJD-S). We expect Dr Parameshwar to do the same for our party MLAs,” they said.

Chikkaballapur MLA Dr Sudhakar came under fire from all quarters with Mr Siddaramaiah and Dr Parameshwar objecting to his ‘rebellious attitude’ and the fact that he had become a rallying point for other disgruntled MLAs. They warned all MLAs to refrain from such activities, sources said. Five MLAs were absent. Mr Siddaramaiah said these MLAs had taken permission to attend other engagements.