A day after he resigned as leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly as a mark of protest over being kept out of the process of selection of contestants for forthcoming Legislative Council polls, Siddaramaiah braced for a show of strength as he headed out along with his supporters for an interaction with Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi at Davangere on Sunday.
Mr Siddaramaiah, who left in a special bus with 15 legislators and eight others travelling in a private car, plans to quietly demonstrate his strength to Mr Gandhi and drive home the point that he is no pushover. It would be a bid to force KPCC president Dr G. Parameshwar and other senior leaders to consider his views in future polls, his supporters said. Sources close to the Kuruba strongman told Deccan Chronicle that ahead of Sunday’s meeting with supporters, several senior central leaders also persuaded him to back off from his decision to quit the key post. They pleaded with him not to precipitate matters by boycotting the interaction with Mr Gandhi on Sunday or turning down the invitation to attend the CWC on June 4. Dr H.C. Mahadevappa, former chief and trusted lieutenant of Mr Siddaramaiah, who was on the bus to Davangere, insisted however that “this is certainly not a show of strength, but of unity as we felt it is better to travel together than in our private cars.”
The sources said Mr Siddaramaiah would subsequently fly to New Delhi to attend a meeting of Congress Working Committee on Monday. This would be followed by a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, where he would get an opportunity to list complaints against Dr Parameshwar and other senior leaders, and the fact that his nominees have not been even considered for the June 11 polls to the Legislative Council. He is likely to make a formal announcement on withdrawal of his resignation after a meeting with Mrs Gandhi on Monday.