Party Workers Want Rahul Gandhi To Be Congress President: DK Shivakumar

Ahead of the Congress Working Committee meeting this week, support seems to be growing for Rahul Gandhi to take over as Congress president, the party's Karnataka unit chief DK Shivakumar said today. He added that it is the unanimous voice of the party workers from across the country.

"Whole country, Congress workers, want Rahul Gandhi to take up the responsibility. We have been putting pressure on him since he resigned. The unanimous voice of the Congress workers from across the country is Rahul Gandhi (should take up the mantle of the party)," Mr Shivakumar said.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said "Rahul Gandhi is discharging 90 per cent of the responsibilities even now, we want him to take up the responsibility."

"There is a Congress Working Committee meeting on October 16....let's see," he said.

Another senior party leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too on Monday had expressed his wish that Rahul Gandhi take charge as the party president.

On reports about the party's leadership offering a national role for Siddaramaiah, Mr Shivakumar said it is for the leadership to decide and no such discussion has happened with the state unit.

"It is for the party and the legislature party leader (Siddaramaiah), I don't want to interfere in it, these are mere speculations now, it has not been discussed with us," he said.

According to news agency Press Trust of India, there have been speculations that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had recently offered a national role in the party for Siddaramaiah, which he is said to have refused.

Rejecting such reports, Siddaramaiah, however, clarified that no such role was offered to him.

The Karnataka Congress president also claimed that several people are keen on joining the Congress, and were holding talks with other leaders and local leaders.

Stating that he was gathering information on coal and power shortage in Karnataka, the former state power minister, in response to a question, said "during our (Congress) rule, we had excess power and we were selling it to others."
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)