Bengaluru: Former minister and senior leader H K Patil who lost the race to a berth in the ministry replaced water resources minister D K Shivakumar as chairman of the campaign committee of KPCC in yet another move to woo voters of north Karnataka ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
Sources in Congress said top leaders of the party were keen to win maximum number of Lok Sabha seats in north Karnataka and therefore appointed Mr Patil as chairman of the campaign committee as he could not be accommodated in the cabinet. He represent Gadag Assembly constituency in the Assembly.
Mr. Patil lost out to former water resources minister M B Patil during induction of new faces into the ministry. His seniority and loyalty to the party helped him earn the key post of chairman of campaign committee, sources added.
The Congress, however, failed to contain the outbursts of unsuccessful ministerial aspirants against its leadership. Mr B.C. Patil, Mr Ramalinga Reddy, Mr R Roshan Baig, Mr S.R. Patil, Mr Shivaram Hebbar, Mr Tanveer Sait, Mr B.K. Sangamesh, Mr Krishnappa and Mr Basavanagowda Patil lobbied hard for a place in the cabinet headed by Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. While Mr B C Patil made no bones about his disappointment, saying for the first time a Sadar-Lingayat candidate like him was not given a berth in the cabinet, first-time legislator Sowmya Reddy declined to accept the post of parliamentary secretary as her father Mr Ramalinga Reddy was ignored during expansion of the ministry.
