Bangalore, Apr 16: Rejecting suggestions of a tussle among chief ministerial aspirants in the Congress, senior state party leader Siddaramaiah today said they would fight the May five Karnataka Assembly polls under collective leadership without projecting any leader.
“There is nothing wrong if there are some chief ministerial aspirants. But to think that the aspirants would mar the chances of the party has no basis and is only an illusion,” Siddaramaiah said.
Siddaramaiah, Union Minister Mallikarjun Kharge and KPCC chief G Parameshwara are considered to be in the race for chief ministership in the event of Congress coming to power, besides some others considered dark horses.
The “problem of plenty” in Congress has often been derided by the ruling BJP which has repeatedly needled its principal opponent to name its leader.
“It has been a tradition in the Congress never to declare its leader,” Siddaramaiah, who is the opposition leader in the Assembly, told a meet-the-press programme organised by Bangalore Press Club and Bangalore Reporters Guild.
Siddaramaiah said he was “200 per cent” confident that the Congress would cross the half way mark of 113 seats in the 224-member Assembly and when it comes to selection of Chief Minister, “the high command's word is final. It is a known fact in the Congress.”
On reports that former External Affairs Minister S M Krishna was maintaining a low-profile as he was unhappy over distribution of tickets, Siddaramaiah said he had not been sidelined and he would campaign for the party.
He said the BJP had weakened after the splits into Karnataka Janatha Paksha headed by former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and BSR Congress led by former minister B Sriramulu. JDS had influence only in five or six districts, while KJP posed challenge only in some pockets, all of which made the Congress the only party which could fight in all the 224 assembly segments, he said.
