In a sharp rebuttal to comments made by his party colleague and former minister KN Rajanna, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge has asserted that the Congress’s success cannot be attributed to any single leader, emphasising instead its 140-year organisational legacy.

Rajanna, who was heaping praising on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his leadership, declared that the latter was the key electoral draw for the Congress in Karnataka. “He (Siddaramaiah) is a mass puller. Anyone can say what they want, but because of him the Congress party is getting votes. In my personal opinion, without him Congress cannot get votes. Whether people agree or not is left to them,” Rajanna said.

Kharge criticised such claims as diminishing the party’s institutional role. “When you need a B-Form, you need the Congress party. During elections, you need its leadership, ideals and principles. But after winning and enjoying power, to then question the party is wrong, whoever it may be,” he said.

He added that the Congress has never been personality-centric. “The Congress has a 140-year legacy through which leadership has always grown and will continue to grow. This party is not because of one individual, and it is not by or for individuals,” Kharge said.

The remarks come at Siddaramaiah surpassed his predecessor D Devaraj Urs to become the longest-serving Chief Minister in Karnataka’s history.