Congress's Rahul Gandhi intervened today into the tussle within the Karnataka Congress -- between the party's former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and its state unit chief and troubleshooter DK Shivakumar. After Rahul Gandhi met the two leaders earlier today, the party said they will work together and neither will be projected as the Chief Ministerial candidate for the 2023 state elections – which was the point of the dispute.
A long overdue reconstitution of the state Congress is expected over the next few weeks.
Mr Gandhi's intervention came on the heels of a patch up within the Punjab Congress, where the tussle between Navjot Sidhu and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh went out of hand.
Even though Mr Siddaramaiah has denied any rift within the party, over the recent weeks, loyalists of both camps have been publicly backing their respective leaders for the top post.
Mr Siddaramaiah later tweeted the photographs of the meeting.
Asked who will lead the party in the 2023 polls, senior party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala told NDTV that both Mr Siddaramaiah and Mr Shivakumar have been asked to work together.
The Congress -- which ruled the state in alliance with HD Kumaraswamy's Janata Dal Secular before its government collapsed -- says its mission is 150-plus of Karnataka's 224 seats. The MLAs will choose a Chief Minister after the assembly election, the party said.
The party's Karnataka unit has so far not projected anyone as a Chief Ministerial candidate -- unlike in the run up to elections in Punjab, where Amarinder Singh's name was announced.
The resolution of the crisis in Karnataka comes ahead of the impending resignation of the BJP's BS Yediyurappa as Chief Minister. The Congress has been attacking the BJP government over corruption and failure to perform and plans a series of protests across the state.
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