Hubballi: The first shock for the Congress party after the loss in the Assembly poll, in which it saw its tally falling from 122 to 78 seats, came from Bagalkot with senior leader S.R. Patil, tendering his resignation from the post of KPCC working president.
Sources said what made Mr Patil quit was the dissidence in the Bagalkot district Congress unit and the party's debacle in North Karnataka in the Assembly election. He revealed his decision to mediapersons on Sunday though he sent his resignation to AICC president Rahul Gandhi on May 25 itself.
His loyalists claimed that he had to take the decision after coming under pressure from the anti-Siddaramaiah camp for focusing only on Badami to ensure the victory of the former CM in the polls.
Meanwhile, speaking to media persons here on Sunday, Mr Patil asserted that he had quit the top post owning moral responsibility for the defeat of a majority of Congress legislators in the region. Stating that he had skipped the meeting of KPCC office bearers in Bengaluru on Saturday following his resignation, he said he was not lobbying with any leader to seek a ministerial berth in the coalition government.
“The Congress had always come to power when the party won more seats in North Karnataka. Therefore, we had invited former CM Siddaramaiah to contest from Badami as we thought this would help the party. It was my moral responsibility to ensure his victory. Therefore, I could not concentrate on other constituencies as I camped in Badami during the election. But the poor performance of the party has forced me to step down from the post of working president", Mr Patil said.
The senior Congress leader had come under pressure from five defeated party candidates in Bagalkot district with some of them publicly expressing their anger against him for not campaigning in their favour. They had accused him of neglecting their constituencies by focusing only on Badami. The defeated Hungund legislator Vijayanand Kashappanavar had even lodged a complaint with the party high command against the leader.
These former legislators had also complained that Patil failed to stop defections and was unable to persuade rebel leaders to withdraw their nominations in Bilagi, Mudhol, Bagalkot, Terdal and Hungund constituencies where the party candidates including former minister Umashri were defeated. Moreover, Patil also failed to retain former Bagalkot MLA P.H. Pujar, who joined the BJP just a week before the elections.
Meanwhile, Congress leaders in Badami claimed that Patil did not take the election in Badami seriously assuming that it would be a cakewalk for Siddaramaiah. He also failed to unite the two factions in the Congress led by B.B. Chimmanakatti and his rival, Dr Devaraj Patil.
This reduced the victory margin of the Congress to around 2,000 votes. “S.R. Patil failed to attract the vote bank of the Reddy Lingayat community to which he belongs, in Badami. His over-confidence reduced the victory margin of Siddaramaiah to a great extent,” said the Congress leader who was an aspirant for the Badami constituency ticket.
However, the loyalists of Patil urged the party high command not to accept his resignation saying he was not responsible for the defeat of Congress legislators in Bagalkot as they had not invited him for the election campaign.
The Congress high command had appointed S.R. Patil as KPCC working president for North Karnataka in June 2017 to woo the Lingayat votebank which is dominant in the region after succumbing to pressure from Siddaramaiah.
The former IT/BT minister enjoys good influence in the twin districts of Bagalkot and Vijayapura. The 65-year old Congressman was leader of the opposition in the Council when the BJP was in power.
