Stop public bickering: Randeep Singh Surjewala to Karnataka leaders and MLAs

As the power struggle within the Karnataka Congress unit intensifies and the central leadership tries to buy peace with a cabinet reshuffle, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Friday appealed to state party leaders and MLAs to desist from making factional statements, saying the issue has been addressed.

This comes even at a time when the Congress central leadership is facing a growing demand for a change in the CM to honor the rotational prime ministership formula and an equally determined resistance to it.

AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, after speaking to both CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar emphasizing the unity mantra, appealed to leaders and MLAs to show public restraint in their comments. “Unnecessary statements by some Congress leaders and MLAs have increased speculations. Congress has sternly warned them not to make any public statements on the leadership issue or fall for the agenda propagated by vested interests. The views of various party functionaries have been taken into account by the leadership,” he said.
While some MLAs and even ministers lobbied in Delhi citing conflicting reasons of the chief minister and the deputy CM, Surjewala tried to blame the BJP for the internal squabbles.

“We had a discussion with the Karnataka CM and the Deputy CM and they agreed that the decisively defeated and faction-ridden Karnataka BJP, along with a section of the media, is deliberately running a defamatory campaign against the Karnataka and Congress government. The sole idea is to undermine the magnificent achievements and guarantee of 5 Congress governments that have become an outstanding model of inclusive development and distributive justice.”