Stung by loss, Rahul Gandhi gives GP, Siddaramaiah the cold shoulder

Bengaluru: The poll debacle in the state has given Congress president Rahul Gandhi a free hand in bringing fresh blood into the cabinet and rooting out the old, largely because the state's senior leaders, particularly Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader, Siddaramaiah and KPCC president Dr G. Parameshwar with whom he is miffed for ‘misguiding’ him over the party's prospects  three months prior to the elections, no longer have a say as they were unable to deliver the state as promised.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, a party senior leader disclosed that Mr Gandhi was upset with both Mr Siddaramaiah and Dr Parameshwar for their repeated reassurances that the party would win the polls and form the government on its own. It looks like Mr Gandhi wants answers on what went wrong in the just concluded polls despite him leading from the front. He has already started gathering information from various quarters and his personal sources and is not solely depending on the leaders' feedback.

Mr Gandhi reportedly sought to know from Mr Siddaramaiah and Dr Parameshwar why they could not anticipate a poor show despite having the state intelligence and party machinery under their control.  Dr Parameshawar had boasted about the formation of booth level committees in the state to the extent of 95 per cent, and Mr Siddaramaiah had constantly claimed that the state intelligence and two to three private agencies were hired to keep a close watch on poll trends. Based on these reports, campaign strategies were designed and executed. But all of them went terribly wrong which meant both leaders did not do their homework properly, said a source quoting Mr Gandhi's observation. 

The Congress president is keen on fixing responsibility and wants to fix things in time for the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. When state leaders started lobbying hard by raking up the 30:30 month formula for sharing the CM post and for retaining the finance and energy portfolio, Mr Gandhi silently ignored them and directly got in touch with former PM, H.D. Deve Gowda giving him a firm commitment for a five-year tenure as well as assuring him the portfolios the JD(S) wanted. "This was his way of snubbing them (state Congress leaders) and their demands and making it clear to them that he will not take things lightly," the source contended.

The source added that even those leaders who had gone to New Delhi to lobby for ministerial berths, were reportedly told by his office that lobbying would not get them posts but their hard work for the party would. Mr Gandhi's message to the Congress leaders he met recently was clear - focus on the upcoming polls and strengthen the party base."This message has even unnerved senior leaders like Mr Siddaramaiah and Dr Parameshwar.  Hence, it looks like Mr Gandhi may have his way on ministerial berths with more young leaders likely to figure in the list of ministers," the source explained.