Who’re unsung heroes of Congress in Karnataka?
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, May 14: Firecrackers have begun bursting outside the residence of former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in anticipation of his taking the hot seat one more time. Posters have also come out for the chief ministerial bid of the state unit chief of Congress in Karnataka D K Shivakumar, pressing for him to lead the new government in the state.
The Congress top brass has also been effusive in praise for Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for helping the party bag a mandate in Karnataka at a scale which was last seen only in 1989. But there have been several heroes for the Congress who toiled hard in their respective zones to root out the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power in Karnataka.
The Congress national general secretary K C Venugopal is being talked of as the architect of the Congress victory in Karnataka, who silently worked to make all the satraps in the state work for the common purpose of victory. He was the trouble shooter for the Congress, who rushed to douse flames whenever they were ignited.
Venugopal’s principal task was to manage the rebels within the Congress and make all the party leaders work with the common purpose. It may be noted that the Congress in Karnataka had at least four chief ministerial aspirants, with the Congress campaign committee chief MB Patil and Dalit leader G. Parameshwara being the two other claimants of the top post. “Venugopal had the arduous task to make all the four focus on the immediate challenge of defeating the BJP in the Assembly election,” said a Congress insider in Karnataka.
Venugopal looked after all the constituencies and concerns of the candidates, and he was in the thick of the action from ticket distribution, party strategy and campaign, said sources in Congress.
Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP G C Chandrashekhar, who hails from the Vokkaliga caste, is being credited within the party for breaking into the bastion of the JD (S) in Tumkur and Mandya districts. The Congress won 13 Assembly seats in the two districts which were under the charge of Chandrashekhar. “Chandrashekar was able to gain the Vokkaliga votes in the two districts. Chandrashekar belongs to Gangatkar Vokkaliga caste,” said the sources. Congress veterans SM Krishna and DK Shivakumar also hail from Gangatkar Vokkaliga caste.
“Ticket distribution in Mandra and Tumkur districts were done on the basis of his inputs. In Mandya, the Congress won six out of seven seats, improving from its tally of 0 in the 2019 state election. In Tumkur, the Congress won seven of the 11 seats, while the party had won only two seats in the 2018 election,” sources added.
Congress campaign committee chief MB Patil is being credited in the party for bring the rich haul of 37 Lingayata MLAs, while he was the architect of taking the BJP veteran Jagdish Shettar and Laxman Savadi in the party.
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