Brainstorming by Congress leaders

BANGALORE: In a sudden development, top-rung leaders of the state Congress, including four Central ministers, had a day-long brainstorming session at a resort located on the outskirts of the city, to take stock of the political situation in Karnataka. The leaders, who form the cream of the state party unit, reportedly discussed ways to strengthen the party’s organisational set-up, remove disunity and groupism and continue their fight against the corrupt BJP regime in the state.External Affairs Minister and former chief minister S M Krishna, Labour Minister Mallikarjuna Kharge, Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily, Union Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa, Opposition leader in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah, former Railway minister C K Jaffer Sharief and KPCC president Dr G Parameshwar were among those who participated in the meeting.Briefing the media after the meeting, Parameshwar said that jailing of former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and several of his Cabinet colleagues and BJP MLAs was discussed.He said that this session was also an opportunity for the party workers to bury their differences and work for the success of the party and the elections, which are around the corner. The KPCC president said that it was also decided to enlist the services of these Central ministers in strengthening the rank and file at the grass-roots level in the state.“The action plan in this regard would be formulated soon,” Parameshwar said.   He said that among others, the possibility of forging an election-understanding with any political group had also come up for discussion and it was decided to refer the matter to the party high command.Stressing that the recent Jan Chetna Yatra undertaken by senior BJP leader L K Advani had demonstrated a ‘clear division’ within the state BJP, Parameshwar said that the state saffron party has bifurcated into two factions — one in favour of Advani and the other in favour of Yeddyurappa. “Instability in the state government is written all over the wall,” Parameshwar said.Replying to a question, the KPCC president said that the party would contest the Bellary byelection and had deputed party observers to shortlist the candidates. Siddaramaiah described the meeting as an act to dispel a notion among the media that the “state Congress is a divided house”. “With today’s meeting we have demonstrated that all rank and file in the party,  including our senior leaders, have one voice and have remained united, and have resolved to bring the party to power in the next elections,” he said.