Congress High Command Orders Warring Karnataka Factions To Tour The State Together

In yet another attempt to sew together the two factions of the Congress in Karnataka, the party high command is said to have ordered a ‘joint’ bus tour.

This dismisses the state leaders’ plans to tour and cover the 224 constituencies across the state in two different buses.

As per reports, just as Rahul Gandhi completed his Karnataka leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, there were reports of the two warring heads Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief D K Shivakumar and former chief minister Siddaramaiah touring the state leading two teams.

Soon after, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) too, which is currently on its Janasankalpa Yatra, had announced plans of a rath yatra across the state.

Its Janasankalpa Yatra is being held by three different teams in three different parts of the state, one jointly led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and the former chief minister and Lingayat strongman B S Yediyurappa, one by party state president Nalin Kumar Kateel and the third by national secretary in-charge of the state, Arun Singh.

Although, on various forums, the two leaders and the party central leadership have been reiterating that it would fight the coming election under a ‘collective leadership’, the fissures among the two had been getting wider, much to the ridicule by BJP, the ruling party in the state.

Recently, Bommai was also mocking Siddaramaiah saying he should first seek the support of his own party colleague Shivakumar before going to people asking for theirs.

At a Janasankalpa Yatre rally, Bommai questioned Siddaramaiah,who was heard asking people to vote for the Congress if they wish to see him as the chief minister, saying "how will you win the support of people when you don’t even have the opinion of D K Shivakumar in your favour".

Given this, the party has decided to have both leaders on one single bus tour and visiting all 224 constituencies.

This is the third such visible attempt by the party high command to bring the two together, after the drum beating incident during the Bharat Jodo Yatra and the embrace during Siddaramaiah’s birthday celebrations, both steered by Rahul Gandhi, earlier this year.