Amid unrest within the party over the chief ministerial candidate in the next Assembly polls, Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar said that he does not have his eyes set on the CM’s post, and that the focus is on bringing the party back to power in the state.
“I am in no hurry for the CM’s post. My agenda is to bring Congress back to power. I have said to use me as stepping stone for this. I have seen statements of 2-3 MLAs. Siddaramaiah is the Congress Legislative Party leader, and he’ll look into it. If he doesn’t, Congress is still alive in Karnataka,” Shivakumar said.
He made the remarks after Raghavendra Hitnal, the Congress MLA from Koppal, backed fellow legislator Zameer Ahmad’s demand to project Siddaramaiah as the Congress’ CM candidate in the next Assembly polls.
Former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwar, who was the chief of Karnataka Congress for eight years, had earlier this week backed Shivakumar and said that president of the party is supreme and leaders must follow his guidelines and suggestions.
“No chair is empty in Congress at present. Our race is to defeat BJP and bring Congress back to power. We need to fight against BJP and defeat it instead of diverting issues. We have to work together. People, workers, leaders want to defeat BJP,” the Karnataka Congress chief further said.
