BENGALURU: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has reportedly decided to play safe and not heed to the demand of some senior leaders to oust Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, much to the relief of the Kuruba strongman and his camp followers.
Top sources in Congress said Mrs Gandhi expressed her view after consulting several veterans on whether the party could afford to take a risk by replacing Mr Siddaramaiah midway through his tenure.
Her decision, however, has been interpreted as a brief respite for the Chief Minister by those demanding a change in leadership. “The central leadership will decide on whether to go for a leadership change or not only after an announcement of results of Assembly polls in five states,” remarked one of them. On the other hand, the Chief Minister’s supporters were jubilant that Mrs Gandhi has ruled out replacing Mr Siddaramaiah with another leader.
Sources said Mrs Gandhi took cognizance of the crisis in the state unit after a meeting of Members of Parliament at the residence of former Union minister M Veerappa Moily where they complained that they were not consulted by Mr Siddaramaiah who also denied posts in state-owned boards and corporations to their supporters.
