Siddaramaiah to lead Congress in Karnataka assembly polls

The Congress on Wednesday announced it will contest the upcoming assembly elections in Karnataka under the leadership of Chief Minister K. Siddaramaiah.

The Congress party has retained G. Parameshwara as the Karnataka unit President and asked him to resign from the state cabinet immediately.

The new appointments in the party's Karnataka unit have also been made keeping in mind the caste calculations in the state and striking a balance by including leaders from all castes and communities, a source said.

"He (Parameshwara) will continue to be the PCC President...to devote his full time and energy in discharging responsibilities of the party president, he will resign from the state cabinet immediately," said an AICC statement released by party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi.

The statement said that K.H. Muniyappa, MP and former union minister, had been included in the Congress Working Committee as a special invitee.

Satish Jarkiholi has been appointed a Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). Muniyappa is a Dalit leader, while Jarkiholi is a tribal leader from the state.

According to the statement, S.R. Patil (Lingayat) will be the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) working President, along with present working President Dinesh Gundurao.

"Gundurao will look after the party affairs of southern Karnataka and S.R. Patil of northern Karnataka," it added.

D.K. Shivakumar, a minister in the present state cabinet, will be the Chairman of the campaign committee for the coming assembly election. He is from the Vokkaliga community.

The party has tried to reach out to both dominant communities by appointing Patil, a Lingayat leader, and Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga leader.

Karnataka will go to polls in mid-2018.

--IANS

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